To Make Things Right
by Sunruner
Summary: Sequel to Restoring the Wind. He left because of her, and everything spiraled out of control because of that. What does it take to be the wife of a Demon Lord, and what does it mean to husband the wind? Hiatus until I get the Hetalia out of me.
1. I: Twelve Years

**With You (AAA), Imagine, The Game Has Changed,**

**Welcome to my sequel project! Sadly, unlike Restoring the Wind this story has NOT been completed yet but will still be updated four times a week on Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. If you haven't read RtW then I'd recommend going back and doing so, and for those of you have read- welcome back!**

**UPDATE: Read my bottom AN here, please and thank-you!**

**On with the story!**

* * *

><p><em><strong>To Make Things Right<strong>_

Twelve Years

Twelve years! It was too long! Too very, very long!

"Quickly! Add more reinforcement to the doors!" Red light, black shadows and green gas were everything Jaken could see, the imp rapidly calling out orders to the milling crowd of demon servants. "Are you listening, fools! ? If she gets through that gate then we're all doomed!"

The sound of Lady Inukimi's transformed paws blasting the palace doors had faded a few minutes ago, followed only by the sickening green miasma the female Dog Demon had exhaled all over the doors of her son's palace. Lord Sesshoumaru's castle was hidden in the mists of a high mountain: no human could ever climb far enough to reach the road that led up through several heavily defended gates, but the Lord's mother had already demolished five of them, and this was the last one before the demonic barriers protecting the estate would crumble.

It had only been months into Lord Sesshoumaru's absence when the Lady of the Northern Mountains had decided enough was enough waiting for her son to return. She wanted his lands, they'd been hers when he was still a pup and the Inu no Taishou had shared them: Lord Sesshoumaru didn't share with anyone! And if she couldn't have them, then now that he was dead that meant no one else could either! The gardens that took up the entire upper-half of the mountain were dead from years of suffering her wind-swept acid. The almost constant sunshine blotted out by inky mist that coated everything in a sick black film; usually the palace was so high on its mountain peak that it was just sunshine and a sea of clouds across every horizon, but not anymore.

Jaken dared to look out at those clouds now, the brown-robed vizier barely tall enough to see through the small rampart at the top of the estate wall. His green three-fingered hands were twisting the Staff of Two Heads nervously around in circles, threatening to wear a hole in the hot stones shifting under his narrow feet. Jaken didn't know what kind of look was in his wide yellow eyes, but he couldn't stop all the nervous ticks and twitches wracking his tiny body.

He could see Lady Inukimi, but the old enchantments from the General's day, though weakened, still held against her. Even when the great hound opened her salivating jaws in his direction, and Jaken fell back to avoid the geyser of toxic waste that spewed out, it never actually reached him.

Lady Inukimi's true form was smaller than her son's had been, more slender, feminine, with one curled fuchsia mark on each cheek instead of the two slashes Lord Sesshoumaru had worn. But she was faster than her son had been, outstripping his already blinding speed, and attacking with toxins and gas that, although Jaken should have known better, he was convinced were more potent than Sesshoumaru's had been.

"_Master Jaken!_"

"Something's caught her attention." He mused, speaking out-loud to himself and holding one sleeve up over his long beak to keep the fumes of melted rock and blasted soil from making him weak. "Lady Inukimi's stopped attacking for some reason..." Maybe, maybe something was going to attack? Like maybe Lord Sesshoumaru!

It was... a meek hope, a tender wish that had been crushed too many times. Jaken couldn't even dare to breathe the words lest the demons under his borrowed authority dropped what they were doing and fled like cowards. Jaken had been left in control of Lord Sesshoumaru's estate twelve years ago after the intense damage done to the palace, but no one had ever expected that the Lord would be gone this long. It had taken all these years for anyone to even accept that, maybe, he might actually be dead.

Lord Sesshoumaru had been very distracted before he finally left the estate after the storm, lingering within the partially demolished complex for two tense months before alighting off to see to the rest of his lands. The Kamikaze that had torn across the known world twelve years ago had obliterated the eastern side of the palace, a shock to all who served the Demon Lord. It had been a terrible storm, unleashed by the gods and wreaking untold havoc for demon and human alike.

Leaving the first time hadn't calmed him though, not even after word reached the estate that Lord Sesshoumaru had demolished the heads of several large demon clans in the area bordering on his territory: his last expansion. Lord Sesshoumaru had in fact come _back_ to the palace once the conquest was over, something that _never_ happened, and he had become extremely withdrawn. Not even a visit to Rin had improved his mood...

And after that he'd vanished... It was only a year later when Lady Inukimi launched her first attack.

"_Master-_"

"I can hear you, fool! Speak up already!" Turning and drumming the Nintoujou's narrow end on the stone underfoot, Jaken hollered at the servant-turned-soldier who kept yelling at him. "Is that ash! ? Whose lighting fires with-"

"Master Jaken, Ryokijin has returned!"

_"What! ?"_ No! Not again! This was impossible!

"He's overwhelmed the northern gate, the fires have already reached the palace!" Jaken didn't have any words, just let his yellow eyes move away from the babbling tanuki and up along the mountain's peak, over the spoiled gardens and past the obliterated outer buildings. There, from the very top of the mountain; in the night he couldn't see the palace structure, but the black clouds billowing into the sky and the red light tinting them told him enough.

"_Open the gates!"_ He shouted, and he felt a tight, constricting pain run through his tiny body. _"Open the gates! Retreat! Run away!"_ Open them up and let Inukimi fight Ryokijin for the mountain, there was no way Jaken could defend it any longer. Even before he gave the cry to retreat, he saw demons scaling the walls and jumping over, taking to the air and earth to escape.

"Ah-Un!" Through the chaos the two headed dragon was the only demon he actually recognized, but Jaken had to stay where he was for now. Crouching down over the gate, the doors were cranked and pulled open; the Dog Demon outside pulling her long pink lips back over her teeth like a sick grin. A burst of green miasma that corroded the stones under Jaken's feet and sent a noxious burst into his face signalled the she-demon's arrival to the estate, and the speed with which she passed meant she'd already picked up on the scent of the Phoenix Lord terrorizing the upper reaches of the palace. If Jaken_listened_, then even now he could hear the flaming bird shattering timbers and decimating walkways.

"Quickly, Ah-Un, we have to go!" The two-headed dragon landed next to him with a heavy thud, Ah's head hanging low, eyes not completely open, as Un growled behind its muzzle and lowered one flank trying to bear its other half's weight. Jaken scrambled up onto the black and red saddle, gripping the leather straps and reins as he clung to his precious staff with one hand so it wouldn't fall. "C'mon, you two! Lets go!"

Ah-Un reared back and launched itself into the sky, and Jaken hung on as the heat of the inferno chased all three of them off and into the east.

The Western Lands had fallen...

* * *

><p>Twelve years. It was a long time, and had required that he make some serious adjustments to his living arrangements.<p>

There weren't many caves around Inuyasha's village, but Totosai had been determined to find someplace subterranean and sound to set up shop and ply his trade. The prime location was out of the question. Onigumo's cave had nearby water, thick rock walls, and a lot of depth and demonic remains... but as the monk put it: too much bad karma. The last thing the sword-smith wanted was to be responsible for forging the next Sou'unga by accident...

His lovely volcanic home was no longer an option, not after the Phoenix tribe moved in from the north and began wreaking havoc across the crumbling Western Lands several long years ago. There was a difference between being a demon in a Lord's lands, and being a Lord's servant, and Totosai had lived as both kinds. He had never felt enough respect for Sesshoumaru as a Demon Lord (it took him over two hundred years just to figure out the Tenseiga after all!) to become a devoted subject, but had loyally served the Inu no Taishou centuries before. Maybe, if Sesshoumaru had not vanished so suddenly, if he had been present to fight against and curb the influx of phoenixes from the north, Totosai could have seen himself properly aligning himself with the Demon Lord.

_'After all, he's your son, isn't he? I don't bear Inuyasha any ill will, but he'll never try and become the Western Lord, and even if he did, we both know he probably wouldn't succeed.'_ It took a certain kind of character to become a proper Demon Lord. It took a strong, selfish heart to ruthlessly destroy so many opponents. It required endless pride and very finite patience to go into battle over and over again, since it was usually for the most petty reasons. The old General had been a cruel soul when it came to land and conquest, his eldest son had been no better, but the younger held too much compassion.

Fighting was common between Demon Lords, or between them and rowdy lesser demons, but complete chaos and war was something altogether different. It was the sort of instability that forced every weapon smith to be extra-cautious about who he made what for. Four times already in the last year it had been necessary for Totosai and Mo-Mo to abandon their new home and run into the village for Inuyasha's help with moody clients. The smith was kept busy making blades designed to deflate unearned pride and instill proper, powerful virtues in their masters before they could be of any real use. This risky business was why he had come to Inuyasha, six years ago, doing everything save physically beat an understanding of his brother's death into the Half-breed.

Sesshoumaru was dead, he had to be. There was war in the Western Lands and such a vain, selfish, arrogant Demon Lord as the General's eldest son would never have stood for such a travesty. Inuyasha had held out for over six long years waiting for Sesshoumaru to magically reappear from the ether, refusing refugees, rejecting alliances with other _lesser_ Demon Lords, and generally sitting on his hands doing nothing.

Kagome had never pushed him to do anything either, too cautious about some young human girl named Rin that Totosai had absolutely no interest in protecting. He'd been shouted at by the priestess for being callous, but the smith had flatly told the younger girl to grow up and get married. Tenseiga had been six-years broken, Bakusaiga six-years silent, and both swords had resonated with such incredible fear (which was okay for Tenseiga since it represented the fears of a father, but Bakusaiga was Sesshoumaru himself!) that if the Demon Lord hadn't fled whatever battle he had been losing, then he had died.

And now, six years after he'd said it, Totosai finally had a Lesser Demon Lord to rely on whenever those phoenixes got too close to Inuyasha's forests and mountains. The Half-breed's little pocket of influence had grown into a territory most humans would have been proud to call their own, and he had alliances and agreements with other demons of similar rank to help defend the eastern frontier. Let the fire birds and northern demons spill down into Sesshoumaru's abandoned lands: those human villages and lesser demon tribes weren't worth running out to protect.

And neither was poor old Totosai's poor old volcano...

This cliff-side cave was not the best place, but he had hollowed out a large portion of the fragile grey slate to find the bedrock underneath. The high ceilings gave the smog and fumes someplace to go as he forged demon bones, steel, and even stone and other minerals together to create numerous kinds of weapons. Swords were his speciality, but were only for the most noteworthy of clients. Only those who could impress Totosai earned a sword.

_'Or those who inherit one. Both of your boys grew into their weapons and became very powerful, old friend, but you know that if you'd left it up to me I would never have trusted either of them.'_Which would probably have gotten them all killed, yes, yes, he knew that. Naraku and phoenixes and plain-old bad luck... _'But you were right, especially about the older boy...'_ But that was difficult to think about, it was uncomfortable knowing that the son of an old, dear friend had left this world without just cause.

_'If he was going to die then Sesshoumaru should have done it in his lands, fighting and defending them where he would be known and remembered. Instead he was off who-knows-where fighting for who-knows-what and not coming home._' The steady clang of his hammer over folded steel was soothing, but not enough so with such troubling thoughts floating around in his mind. _'You were at peace for such a short time, and then all of this happened in your territory. Sesshoumaru was too young.'_

That thought made him stop, Totosai looking down at the glowing metal in front of him and sighing softly. Too much melancholy, he was going to poison the materials if he kept on like this. Hammering out the proper shape for a great halberd head, Totosai let the metal cool after that, padding over to a small pool of water and splashing off his face and arms with it, washing off the soot in the dirty water before climbing out into the sunlight.

His little grey cliff faced the forest, with Inuyasha's village just beyond and down the line of the land. It was all green trees and blue sky, happy, cheerful, beautiful even...

But the thought wouldn't leave him alone; Sesshoumaru was too young. He had been too young to be Demon Lord when his father died, it was what had made him so incredibly cold and dead inside. Totosai and Myoga had known Sesshoumaru as a pup, and he had changed too much too fast as a youth following the General's death.

_'He was never happy, or sweet, or even innocent when he was small, but that was good: nice dogs die young.'_ No, Sesshoumaru had always been proud; pride kept you alive, made you work hard, it let you hide your wounds and never give the enemy a reason to think they might have a chance. _'But he was curious, and he was good. I remember he wanted to know everything you had to tell or teach, and that was why you liked him. That relationship was why he went and asked you for Sou'unga instead of just attacking once your back was turned. He was the right age to begin challenging you, but then, old friend, things happened.'_ Things happened and his father had been traded for a half-brother...

Two hundred years ago, Totosai remembered, the Western Lands had suffered almost as much as they were right now. The Inu no Taishou had amassed incredible stretches of land and mountain, at one point even threatening to reach over the Western Sea to answer the moth demons creeping over from across the water. When he died, Lady Inukimi had reclaimed most of her northern territories, the ones she had shared with her mate and young son. Sesshoumaru had not been old enough to fight his own mother, not then, and the only reason she had not killed him was because of the blood between them.

_'But he had the selfish heart, and the endless pride, and the finite patience._ _And we both know he never lost a fight again after Inukimi, not until Inuyasha unleashed the Tetseiga on him the first time and the Wind Scar soon after that.'_ And yes, there had been other fights after that; stalemates and draws and interrupted duels, but Sesshoumaru had only truly and undeniably _lost_ those three battles in his entire life- not... counting the fourth one, of course... _'He had just begun to truly mature when he died, friend. Why wasn't your warning enough to keep him alive..?'_

The dead don't like to answer questions, but the living still like to ask them. The old sword-smith gave a sigh as he lifted a gnarled hand up to scratch his bare cranium with his claws, shaking his head quickly as he felt a shiver run down his spine. The sun was setting far in the west, bathing the half-hidden village in orange light. The smith felt another shiver, colder this time, and stood up from where he'd been crouched in the opening to his cave.

Then there was _another_ cold burst down his spine, and as he blinked his massive eyes twice Totosai's pointed ears gave a fast twitch. That sound... that sound, he-!

"Bakusaiga?" Turning around and digging his claws into the slate-grey stone, Totosai got his feet in on the action too as the demon started pulling himself up the rock. Up, up, up! All the way until he was standing on the cliff's top and was able to peer far into the western light. "Speak up, Bakusaiga! I can almost hear you!" Almost hear it, as he hadn't been able to for almost twelve years.

He could remember the day when the Tenseiga and Bakusaiga had left, their quiet, constant resonance cut down to a bare mumble as they were carried much too far away. This hadn't concerned Totosai at first; Demon Lords were wont to get up and travel sometimes. He had only become worried a few days later, when he heard the screams of fear and agony from the pair. Tenseiga had been broken, and suddenly, and Bakusaiga had screamed with fear that could only echo the emotions of its true master. After that the two had been almost silent, the broken sword unable to spare more than a whimper, while the killing blade had only pined forlornly in the darkness, someplace cold, somewhere alone.

The smith could only sometimes, rarely, catch the echo of the swords' pain in the air. Echoes and whines, weak memories of sound and sensation. So this was something new, right now, this was something good.

Totosai scrambled back down into his cave, quickly re-emerging with a half-dozen unfinished sword blades and several other metal rods and demon bones. Climbing back up onto the cliff he stuck each one into the ground, watching and listening as he formed a large circle and let the other half-made weapons resonate with the cries of their far-off brethren.

"Bakusaiga, Tenseiga, I can hear you..." Hear the voices, not the words. He could sense their natures, not understand their plight. Totosai could also feel his bulbous eyes burning as he stared into the setting sun, but refused to blink or move. Mo-Mo was silent and attentive, the cow flying up from the grasses below to observe what was happening, but she remained utterly without sound beyond the noise of landing on the pebbled ground. If it was quiet then he could listen, if he could hear them then... maybe...

The final rays of the sun dipped down over the horizon, until there was just one left and it gave a brief flare. Instead of fading after that, Totosai stood there and felt the light continue to shine over his face and into his eyes, watching the images form in front of him as a vision- wait, no.

That wasn't sunlight.

"Sesshoumaru, come back..." He whispered the words hoarsely, his throat tight around the sounds and his tongue thick as the yellow light began to turn red, and Totosai's bare feet scratched against the dry ground. "Bakusaiga swears by your life, so for the love of Kami, boy, come back... _Mo-Mo!_" He could feel something now, sense it coming and recognized the speed: he knew that heat.

Mo-Mo bellowed and trotted up behind him, Totosai abandoning the incomplete weapons in the ground as he scrambled onto the cow's back. By the time he was up and urging Mo-Mo for height and speed, the old smith could look back towards the west and see something that rivalled the earlier sunset. It was a carpet of red fire, heat spilling over the hills and dips of the land, incinerating the standing trees that marked the end of Inuyasha's small domain. Geysers of steam fired into the air where springs and rivers met the inferno.

And flying above and ahead of all this, causing it, was the great wing-span and massive red body of Ryokijin; the Phoenix Lord.

"_Fly Mo-Mo! Fly now!_"

* * *

><p><strong>IF YOU'VE BEEN READING THIS STORY ALREADY PLEASE READ THIS PART HERE OKAY?<strong>

**July 24th: Alright! I've published up to chapter 21, which is officially the close of the Second story arc. Depending on where you want to draw the line there are either 1 or 2 more to come and SUNNY IS WORKING ON THEM.**

**As of the 24th (this update), I have finished chapter 22, but 23 is fighting with me. I'd ideally like to complete up to at LEAST 26 before I start publishing again, but the ultimate goal would be to have the next ARC done from start to finish, which might be anywhere from 30 to 32. Bear with me please! I can do this, I just need to hit my stride again and hopefully once I finish my course (Final is on the 28th so bleh. Poetry.) I'll be able to manage it. I've got a great playlist and a happy summer schedule to work with.**

**Thanks for reading, leave a review below!**


	2. I: A Wife's Duties

**Kuon no Kawa, Imagine.**

**And here I go wildly making up stuff again, but oh well! At least I'm not sending characters off to Greece again xD**

* * *

><p><em><strong>To Make Things Right<strong>_

A Wife's Duties

Kagura was bored. Desperately so... She remembered how:

"_Na, Sesshoumaru, you're going to kill the fire bird first?"_

"_Nn." _

And after that brief exchange, she'd watched his form vanish through the thick greenery of the forest. That had been five days ago, and Kagura was bored.

So much of the Western Lands had been scarred by fire and fighting that the mountain where Kagura found herself now was one of the rare islands of green life to be found. Sesshoumaru had chosen this to be the centre-point of his expansion, at least until he knew enough about the different factions to take his palace back. He had said that, if it pleased her, she could go ahead and destroy any lesser demon tribes who disturbed her while he was away, but it was just a red herring. He didn't want her fighting, not because she couldn't, but because he didn't want her killing things he wanted to kill. Selfish mutt.

The fire bird was an example of this, it was something he wanted to destroy even though with her powers a bird would have been easily grounded and struck down. Still, she had to respect the fact that the spirit who guarded the forest had a vested interest in seeing the Demon Lord put a stop to the encroaching infernos. Once Sesshoumaru completed that task, his dominance over this patch of territory would be re-established and absolute. Until then, Kagura was left with the toads and wolves who had already tasted Sesshoumaru's poison and deferred to him again.

_'It shouldn't take him so long to kill a simple phoenix. He'd better not be growing lazy.'_ Kagura had been back and forth over this mountain so many times that she was beginning to feel trapped by the boundaries of green. Kagura found it to be not unlike the rocky, cold plateau where she'd spent too many years being equally useless on.

So she was violating her husband's conditions, not violently, but she was certainly twisting his words.

Kagura was not allowed to leave his territory, and right now that meant Kagura could not leave the mountain: at least, not without causing some sort of terrible conflict between them. The boundary was clearly defined by the place where green trees, ferns, and grass gave way to the sooty, blackened earth that extended from the mountain's base all the way out to the western sea. So she didn't break his rules: she didn't step foot on the ashes, and Kagura never hovered beyond the reach of the trees out over the wasteland.

But she spent the better part of five days directly _on_ that boundary, and her winds were constantly kicking up and disturbing the hateful soot. She blasted down the trees that the phoenix had turned to charcoal sticks, and drove the air down into the earth so it would churn the soil and devour the ash. It took two days of her walking around the edge of the mountain tilling the ground before the forest's spirit finally approached her.

Sesshoumaru had been lax to explain the guardian's purpose to her, but Kagura understood enough to know that, technically the guardian spirit didn't have to deal with or acknowledge her. She wasn't the Demon Lord, she was his mate, and he was the one who had to make the pact with the spirit, represented by his seal. And seals were complicated; at first he made it sound like a wax stamp, but apparently that wasn't the case.

Most demons had territories, as Naraku had, and they simply controlled or defined them by finding someplace they liked and killing anything nearby that tried getting in. But a Demon _Lord_ was different: yes, they ran around killing anything they deemed unsavoury in their domain just because they could, but they also made seals. It was... some sort of highly concentrated mixture of demonic power and... something else, she couldn't remember. Demon Lords went to the land _itself_ to establish their claim, usually by swearing to uphold some balance or defend a region against such-and-such a threat. In return for the pledge the spirits of the land would then act on the lord's behalf. Like for instance: if a great big tribe of phoenix demons moved in from the north then all the cliffs would crumble where they nested, or the land would refuse to produce fresh food or water for them.

The problem with phoenixes was that they tended to win against forests. And the problem with seals was that, because they provided an advantage, not a weakness, they usually weren't carried around with by the Demon Lord. So Sesshoumaru had _lost_ his along with everything else that had been in his palace. Stupid, forgetful pup.

"_If my seal had been destroyed then I would know. It has probably been hidden somewhere by a servant, likely Jaken."_ Her mate maintained that even if the seal _was_ destroyed, it wouldn't do him any physical harm or effect his strength at all, it would just make it harder for him to re-establish his hold on the Western Lands. _"I imagine most of the spirits are irritated by my absence, but they are not difficult to appease."_

Hence the phoenix hunt; the forest spirit Kagura had been left with simply wanted him to go and kill a select fire-bird, then the whole _'missing for twelve years'_ thing would be forgiven. Spirits had very long, slow memories. But they were surprisingly curious: it only took two days for this one to begin walking with her, and after three they were speaking openly.

"You are a wind demon..."

"I am." The guardian's eyes were two pieces of unripe round fruit, pale green. Its face consisted of several leaves delicately overlapping to form a feminine jaw-line and a wide brow. For hair the guardian's back was layered with vines which also gave the appearance of clothing, fingers of wood and stone and a thick base like the roots of a tree. Spirits were very close to demons, very close, but not quite the same. With the great destruction wrought against the forest here the spirit before her was only about the size of a human youth. The greens of its body were alive, but not vibrant...

"The earth and wind are opposites on the elemental wheel..."

"Yes, I know that."

"You seek to bring life?" The spirit sounded confused, and Kagura just dropped her head back with a short laugh as she continued to walk.

The sky was clouded over and the wind coming off the wastelands just made everything feel grey and dry. The air should have been cool like it was further within the forest, with the scent of early summer rain and growth, but the water that fell over the ashes just vanished into its cursed embrace. Five days had taken her about half-way around the base of the mountain, in fact she was beginning now to climb up the division between this rise and the next: the wasted nature of the soil still the same.

"Is that a euphemism for children?" Kagura asked mockingly, tugging at her white skirts as the thick silk caught on a living branch on the side of the forest. Since returning to the islands Kagura hadn't felt the need, nor had the opportunity really, to find a kimono or yukata to replace the mainland outfit she'd been given by a demon seamstress in the west. But she didn't really feel compelled to change either.

Kagura was still pleased with the quality of the spider-silk, heavy as it was, that robed her arms and hugged her sides. The blue, white and green had been made to match Sesshoumaru's colours, and she didn't miss the reds and magentas of her old outfit: Naraku had chosen them. The sheer blue underlayer was hidden under the long white sleeves and dress that went down to her ankles. The deep forest green bodice was made of stiffer, thick material, and hugged her torso and spread down her hips, capping her shoulders with the living colour. None of it was armour, but Kagura found it amusing that Sesshoumaru's claws and acids seemed incapable of harming the materials.

The topaz and ivory comb Sesshoumaru had given her was twisted into her black hair to keep it up, holding the wild strands out of her way. Although she didn't know where he'd found the time for it, her mate had also brought her a pair of topaz earrings that matched the comb; two long drops that fell from each ear and replaced the old jade beads from her time as Naraku's servant.

Still walking with the guardian, green grass and grey ash met along the thin line she was treading around the mountain. Kagura had her fan's green silk spread, the fabric picking up the ambient daylight as she flicked her wrist over the wasteland again, rolling the earth and ash together.

"The Demon Lord _has_ forbidden you from conceiving."

"Ah, you were there when he said that, weren't you?"

"I am the forest..." And they had been _within_ the forest when Sesshoumaru told her point-blank that she wasn't _allowed-_ or wait, had the word been forbidden? Yes, the spirit was right: that Kagura was _forbidden_ from becoming pregnant. She hadn't actually thought of it until he'd said the words, Sesshoumaru had no need for an heir yet, so Kagura hadn't thought it a matter of any importance.

But no, now she was _forbidden_ from burdening him with a compromised mate to protect, and then a dependant child after the fact. _Forbidden. _

"My husband is an excellent warrior." Another blast of wind, and the rolling, grinding sound of stones and grit spilling over one another to envelope the fine powder. "But sometimes I _do_ wonder what goes on in that head of his."

"For mortals, is timing not determined by the father...?" Uhh... It looked like a youth, and in matters not directly related to plants and growth the spirit had a tendency to _sound_ like a child.

"It's a shared burden, usually?" This was not something Kagura really wanted to discuss with an androgynous creature, let alone one whose loyalty Sesshoumaru was fighting to reclaim. Looking back at the spirit once as she scratched a minor itch by her ear, Kagura kept walking and thought of something the guardian might understand: "It's like saying flowers just decide to spawn more flowers." The guardian's floral eyes lit up expressively, understanding dawning on its feminine face.

"Without the wind new flowers cannot be born. They must come together." Yes, exactly- wait. Did that make Sesshoumaru the wind or the flower?

"Close enough."

"And together, you will bring life back to the Western Lands?" Kagura nodded, because yes, that was the hope. Sesshoumaru neither noticed nor seemed to care that his lands had been decimated by fire, but Kagura had already promised herself that she would have a hand in restoring them. It seemed fair.

Oh?

"He's back." A gust of wind touched her neck, speaking to her and carrying just the right amount of demonic energy to tell Kagura who it was now fast approaching the mountain from the east. The guardian seemed confused by the subject change, but then slowly started to smile again.

"He will go to where he left you." With those words the guardian melded back into the vines and rocks of the mountainside, Kagura not faulting the abrupt departure as she allowed herself to fall into the wind.

Her body became something evanescent and insubstantial, more a memory of sensation as she quickly parted tree-branches and swerved around other obstacles. It took only a few minutes before she had crossed the mountain and returned to the small clearing where Sesshoumaru had turned and walked away from her five days earlier. Her Demon Lord was just touching his feet down on the tall grass as she arrived.

'_Take me with you next time, Sesshoumaru, you're much too slow on your own.'_ He couldn't hear her like this, but being the wind did have its advantages. The world was more a myriad of energy and light when she was in this form, his physical as well as mystical presence daunting to her as Kagura let herself wrap around him teasingly. She could hold his hands under the white and red patterns of his sleeves and embrace him at the same time, press close to his armoured body without fear of his black cuirass gouging her with its horns. He didn't even have to acknowledge the kiss she pressed over his mouth. She was invisible and insubstantial, and affection that was experienced but never witnessed suited his stoic persona.

Twisting around behind him she separated herself from the wind, Kagura landed in a low crouch on one knee just behind him, her fan was open and held over her lips and nose as she slowly stood up. Sesshoumaru didn't look at her, didn't give any outward sign that he'd even noticed her enthusiastic welcome, but she knew his eyes had shut, briefly, when she embraced him, and that felt like enough for now. Years spent cocooned in ice had not warmed him to affection, and Kagura would have been worried if he'd reacted differently.

"You were successful, Demon Lord?" The guardian's voice came through the air and Kagura let her attention follow Sesshoumaru's to the massive tree standing at the edge of the glade. It dominated the treeline, thick enough around that if Kagura had stood on one side and her husband on the other, they wouldn't be able to reach one another- though she wasn't sure about his fur.

"A phoenix clan has come to dominate the eastern quarter of my land." Oh, so did that mean he wasn't successful?

"Did you find the correct one? The fire bird who tore across my sisters and daughters, putting them to sleep?"

Sesshoumaru didn't answer, but Kagura watched him pull something out of his armour. She couldn't see what it was, but heard a light snap before he swung his arm to scatter whatever it was- ash? Ash which turned to fire, frightening the guardian before a demon formed out of the flames. The creature was immediately stopped by Sesshoumaru's foot slamming down on its back, holding it to the ground where the grass began to dry and smoke. As always, the Demon Lord remained silent.

Kagura moved so she could see this phoenix. It took the form of a youth, not very old, fifteen or sixteen to human eyes so perhaps ten times that number in reality. His eyes were a brilliant blue colour, dark skin, and flaming red hair which matched the feathers protruding from his ankles, elbows and wrists. He was weak and bleeding, clearly defeated, but now the ash interested her- had that been a seal or something else?

"Yes! Him!" It probably didn't matter.

"_Ryokijin! Ryoki-!_" Sesshoumaru's electric green whip leapt from his claws and took off the demon's head as the bird began to scream, slashing the skull a second time and halving it as the force of the blast caused it to bounce up into the air. Rather than spit blood and gore across the grass however, Kagura watched the body turn to ash. There was a pull in the air, one driven by demonic energy, and Sesshoumaru removed his foot from the collapsed back of the demon as the ashes burst into flame: charring the ground with its heat.

"Bakusaiga alone does not kill them." What-? He was reforming! Wings were included this time, breaking out of the phoenix's arms as fire and ash combined to give him life again. "They reform from any ash." Including the soot he'd just created right here? Kagura didn't get a chance to ask, she felt the wind scoop up that same layer of ash and draw it up into the bird.

"Let me try it." She said, Sesshoumaru only reacting enough to flick his wrist again and sever the terrified demon's legs from his body, carving another green line across his torso as Kagura waited just until she felt the wind try to grab and pull the forming ashes back together again.

Slashing her fan upwards, a ribbon of air leapt from the green silk and arced wide around the Demon Lord before breaking off into several tiny fingers. Each one fought to grasp a portion of ash and then sped away with it: the terror in the phoenix's fading eyes confirming the damage before his face fell to dust and she swept that away as well.

_'If you scatter the ashes then they can't come back.'_ Minding the winds she'd used to portion the grey matter, Kagura let them fly off in different directions until she drove the air down into the ground. Just as she'd done all around the mountain, the soil was churned up and over, this time with the forest responding with green roots and life to snuff out any additional energy put out by the ash. Next time, perhaps a river would be better than soil...

"He is dead." Sesshoumaru seemed satisfied.

"Yes..." Kagura kept her fan out, lifting it over her face again as she stood straight now that the magic was done with. She watched silently as Sesshoumaru completed his dealings with the guardian. "But..." But? But what? Kagura still couldn't see Sesshoumaru's face from where she was standing, but she doubted it had changed at all as the spirit spoke up.

The guardian didn't need to reform another solid body in order to speak respectfully with Sesshoumaru, but chose to do so now for some reason. It served to make whatever was bothering the entity both clearer, and yet decidedly not. When the effeminate guardian had put itself together, it's unripened eyes were moving openly between the Demon Lord and Kagura. Finally though, they settled on the stronger male.

"Lord Sesshoumaru... I want a new pact." A pause. Brief. Not happy.

"I have already renewed this one."

"Show me your seal?" Sesshoumaru didn't respond. "Do you know where it is being kept?" Again, no answer. The guardian's face was not necessarily sad, but there was clear concern on its face. Stepping away from the great tree it walked around the Demon Lord, the two watching one another closely until the spirit came to a stop between him and Kagura, taking a few steps back so the three of them formed a triangle.

"If your seal becomes any more damaged than it already is, Lord Sesshoumaru, our agreement will be null."

"More damaged?"

"About half a year ago your palace was destroyed, and the strength of your seal was greatly compromised." Half a year... So about the time that he awoke from Boreas' spell. Maybe that was what had set it off? Not some flimsy human magic, but the threat posed to his lands?

Kagura tried not to think very often about the time Sesshoumaru had spent suspended and asleep within his icy prison. He had travelled across the world to battle a god known as Boreas- and had lost. It had taken him almost twelve years to break free of the ice holding him captive, and then months of travel to bring them back home to the sorry state of the Western Lands. They didn't talk about it, their conversations either dealt with the time before he had left for the west, their journey home, or the immediate future here with the warring tribes. If she didn't have to, Kagura was happy to ignore those years of her life, and pretend that they had never happened...

"So you want a new pact..."

"If your seal breaks, you will have to return to me anyways to re-establish our bond." Sesshoumaru fell quiet for a few moments, Kagura watching as the sun finally broke through the dreary clouds over head. The green around them was still lacking somehow, alive but not _active_, not vibrant the way a forest in spring should be. Against the Demon Lord's austere expression and impressive, clean dress, the world felt a little grey.

"This is not a new concern. Why did you not say something before?" And save him the trouble of spending five days hunting a phoenix for the guardian's pleasure. Kagura understood his frustration, even if he wasn't expressing it openly as he posed the question. The spirit understood the dangerous ground it was now on as well, mimicking bashful gestures of human shyness as two green hands came up, fingers folded over one another and rubbing nervously.

"Lord Sesshoumaru, you are an excellent warrior, but..." Flattery would buy the spirit time to make its point, but Kagura didn't understand why she thought she saw those inanimate eyes flash to her before focusing back on the Demon Lord. "I do not understand the way your mind works." No, it was definitely looking at her, to the point where the guardian actually turned its shoulders so it could make a point of gazing at her, not turning back for a few moments as Kagura got the distinct impression that she was being addressed as well. Something new. "However, I understand Lady Kagura, and through her I am given confidence in you that I could not have had simply by testing your prowess."

Kagura closed her fan slowly because it wasn't doing her any good. She refused to say anything and kept her eyes on the guardian. It was more than Sesshoumaru could manage right now: she could feel his gaze resting on her, then move to the spirit, then back again. Kagura wanted to slap the stupid guardian for bringing her into this.

"Very well." At his words Kagura looked over and watched Sesshoumaru do something with his power that was new to her. Arcs of green, white and blue energy, moving like something caught between fire and wind, ripped from his shoulders and back. They spread down into the ground where the tendrils began to score the grass and cause the soil to pucker up like it was under pressure from below. It reminded her, eerily, of what he'd done with his power the night he'd marked her: just maybe in reverse? And not as long-lasting, something Kagura found herself jealous of as the light display cut out and Sesshoumaru's hair and fur settled down in the breeze. "Our bond is severed."

"Y-yes, I..." The guardian looked woozy now as Kagura turned her attention back to it. What was green had begun to turn brown, leaves curling up and drying around the spirit's face and all along its body, ropes of vines going black and rotting as the connection between land and lord was cut off. She doubted that the spirit would have reacted so harshly if the territory surrounding its mountain wasn't blackened by phoenix fire, every inch under immediate threat.

"State your new terms."

"_Yes..._" The guardian's voice had been soft and strong before now, like wind through grass or the slow movement of stones sliding past one another. Now it sounded dull, faded, drowned by rot and moisture- like swamp-mud and silt. The unripe fruit in its eyes changed to something yellow and pocketed with brown, and Kagura could almost catch the scent of the sickly-sweet rot from where she was standing. The odour must have been disgusting for Sesshoumaru.

"Demon Lord Sesshoumaru, my body, my strength, and my soul I pledge to your side, for as long as you choose to honour, defend, and keep..." One fragile hand rose and Kagura _really_ wanted to slap the spirit, going so far now as to fold her arms tightly over her chest as she was pointed at. "-this demoness as your mate. So long as she serves as your humble servant, dedicated to the restoration of the Western Lands, so too shall I." _Servant?_ And wait, that sounded more like a three-way agreement than just-

"Do you agree with these conditions, Kagura?" _Shit._ How dare that wretched forest spirit make this about her! This would be the last time she let herself talk to one of these stupid guardians!

"I'm not your servant, but yes. I do." Keeping her arms stiffly folded, the Wind Demon let herself agree but didn't make any effort to look pleased with the decision. Did it _dis_please her? No, not exactly, but if Sesshoumaru gave her grief over this later then, so help her Fujin, she'd kill him. She did her part to stay out of his affairs, even abiding by his stupid commands like '_don't leave the mountain'_ and '_don't get pregnant_': this wasn't her fault.

The surge of light Sesshoumaru let off this time was noticeably greater than the one before, but behaved much the same way. The idea that it might be taxing for him to release so much energy crossed her mind, but only until a searing pain shot through her marks and caused the Wind Demon to tense up with a forceful grunt. The marks on her skin, the ones cut across her collarbones and slashed over her shoulders, plus the small yellow disk that now stained her chest, all came alive like they were being seared with a hot brand. She could feel heat rising through her clothes, lifting one hand and pressing it down over the tight knot of pain just below the hollow of her throat.

Clearly he had no idea how painful these displays were, and once- just once! Kagura would love to see him go through the pain of having his body's energies re-organized without his control. Because that was what was happening now, Kagura holding on to every breath in case the next one hurt more than the last. She was thankful that her arms had been crossed already, it gave her a way to tense up and grip her sleeves tightly without changing her stance too much.

But it didn't last as long as the time he'd marked her, and for this Kagura was thankful. It left her sore and out of breath, but it was nothing like that horrible night on the beach, so she could, maybe, forgive him for springing this on her.

"You have your new pact."

"Yes, Lord Sesshoumaru! Thank you, Lord Sesshoumaru!" Well at least _somebody _was happy. Opening her eyes slowly, Kagura hadn't meant to shut them, but she couldn't help it after the fact. At least it wasn't like she was on the verge of collapse. The guardian didn't even seem to notice her discomfort as the earthen creature quickly came up in front of her, hands clasped again and a revitalized look on its androgynous face. "Lady Kagura, with this new pact I will spread life and cultivate the earth. I will ask the wind to help the flowers, and there will be so many new blooms that you will spend all year just counting the colours. Many flowers, Lady Kagura, would that please you?"

"Eh... yes? I guess it would." Flowers? They'd been talking about them earlier, but Kagura couldn't remember why. Either way the spirit looked ecstatic, enough so that it just ignored her lack-lustre reply, turning away and vanishing through the restored foliage surrounding the glade.

"We're leaving." Of course they were leaving, why bother staying someplace after finally restoring it? Why wait around and let the searing pain fade out of her chest? No, that was all just crazy talk.

Trying hard not to grumble after her mate as Sesshoumaru launched himself into the air ahead of her, Kagura reached behind her head and pulled one of the small white feathers from her hair. Tossing it up, it grew and allowed her to kneel down on the elongated spine and strengthened fibres, quickly rising up to join him as he cut across the sky.

Once they'd flown for a few minutes and Kagura was close enough to actually look up and see his face, the Wind Demon finally stopped rubbing her sore chest and spoke.

"Find fresh water." She said, making the words bland and disinterested. "After five days I want to bathe."

"Nn." Yes, a bath would be nice... It would give him time to rest, and an excuse to deal with the red tinge forming across his lips. Just making the one assenting sound to answer her request sent a bead of blood trailing across his cheek from the corner of his mouth. He was lucky to have hidden the blood from the guardian when he spoke, and it sadly proved to her that no, it wasn't easy repeatedly expending so much precious energy...

"Next time abandon me someplace more hospitable, Sesshoumaru."

"Nn."

And off they went.

* * *

><p><strong>There we go, that picked up quite smoothly, didn't it? Still muddling about trying to establish characters and situations in this chapter, so please feel free to review or PM me if you saw any fuzzy bits. I'll gladly come in and edit them away so long as you tell me where to look. I also have no flipping clue when, grammatically, I should be capitalizing things like "phoenix clantribe", so I think it's inconsistent throughout the story. Any ruling?**

**So you should just review anyways, and help this story attract more readers.**


	3. I: A Husband's Temper

**Iris, Lady Killer, Imagine.**

**Durr, the draft-lines are bad in this chapter. *punches plot on the snout to establish dominance***

* * *

><p><em><strong>To Make Things Right<strong>_

A Husband's Temper

They had to actually leave the Western Lands in order to find fresh water. He would have to focus on restoring at least a part of the water-shed soon, probably whichever spring or river was closest to the mountain he had reclaimed. It irritated him immensely to have to do this, to go back across his decimated territories and behave like the youth of over two-hundred years ago. He hated being sent across the countryside fulfilling the wishes and whims of whichever guardian or elemental spirit lingered in control of the land he wanted.

But at least he had learned a considerable amount about was going on over the passing days: a tribe of Phoenix demons led by their patriarch _'Ryokijin'_ had descended from the north and were the cause of all this destruction. Sesshoumaru knew simply from hunting down one youth that their bodies could reform from any available ash once they were killed, not just the dust shed naturally from their pores and flames. It rendered even Bakusaiga ineffective against them; the sword's corrosive touch could contaminate the original portions of ash, but there was no end to the silt available across the wastes.

However, the killing sword was still able to stun and hamper the birds' abilities to rebirth. If he could draw Tenseiga in time to attack the spirit while it was still floundering about then perhaps that would work: or it would simply revive the phoenix faster. For the moment, until he was sure of how best to proceed, it would be wise to avoid conflict rather than rely on Kagura's powers over the wind. It was a difficult situation, but not impossible.

"You don't know how much I have _missed_ hot springs, Sesshoumaru..."

Their return had only been some eight or nine days ago, and the Demon Lord was tolerant of the progress made thus far. Until he located Jaken things would be slow, and his situation precarious. At the moment, all he was required to do was visit the places where the land's guardians frequented and speak with them to re-affirm his control over the area. Typically, those places were not difficult to locate: that glade in the middle of the forest, a spring in the hills, a particular dell or dip in the landscape. What complicated matters was the ash which had been interfering with his ability to track. It smothered scents, and the amount of energy necessary to burn so much of the land obscured auras.

Without the Staff of Two Heads, he would have to take the time to destroy the Phoenix tribe before he could focus solely on regaining his lands. But the phoenixes were not something he could wipe out without Tenseiga- at least that seemed like the most logical outcome. The delays did not please him, but he doubted it would take much longer to find Jaken- or Totosai for that matter.

"Are you brooding again?" Pulling his amber gaze away from the treeline surrounding the steaming pools, he couldn't see his mate from where he was standing, but her voice was clear to him. Kagura's clothing was spread neatly over the same boulder he was leaning against, each piece carrying her scent along with that of the forest and ashes they had left behind. It irritated him to know she had violated his conditions to stay away from the wastes, but it wasn't enough for Sesshoumaru to call her on the disobedience.

"No."

Until he reclaimed a sufficient portion of his lands he had decided to swear off food, sleep, and indulgences with the woman bathing just beyond his sight. The restrictions would cause his temper to sour and he would become more aggressive, and aggression would allow him to dispatch enemies with greater ease.

At the time of Naraku's death Sesshoumaru had forgone eating for almost the entire year. His focus had been crystalline and sharp, every hunting instinct attuned to his prey even though he had had no interest in contaminating himself with the half-breed's flesh. He would reach that level of perfection again, even _with_ the broken Tenseiga babbling at his side like a foolish old man.

Sesshoumaru was _explicitly_ aware of how long ago Kagura had slipped into the hot water, and he did not need the sword to remind him. Instead of obliging the weapon he used the heat in his blood to recover the losses he'd experienced breaking and reforming his pact with the forest spirit. Recycling energy in this way was not something a lesser demon would be capable of, but he had plenty of practice with sustaining himself without the luxury of food or sleep.

The spirit's earlier request still disturbed him though. He was angered to know that his seal had physically come under threat: it was his and thus not meant to be tampered with. The new problem now was that he didn't know what effect the new pact had on the Guardian, it had made no sense to him: all pacts were represented with one seal.

_'And wherever that one seal is, it's being slowly corroded and eaten away by something.'_ Tch. Jaken would have to answer for it once he tracked down the pathetic creature. '_If he is still hiding in the remains of the estate, then I will have to fight Mother sooner than I- this scent...'_

"Get dressed." He heard a small splash and a huff and took those as signs of ascent from Kagura, turning his face towards the breeze as it carried a familiar odour to his nose. Stepping away from the boulder and the rest of the bare stone surrounding the hot-spring, Sesshoumaru walked off a short ways, but not far enough for her to think he was already leaving: he knew how long it took her to get dressed.

A large cloud of grey smoke soon accompanied the scent of burned iron and metal slag, the sword-smith's cow slowly taking shape inside the mist billowing from its stationary hooves. Sesshoumaru had not yet gone to Totosai's volcano to have the Tenseiga mended, but that had been his next definite move. The fact that the smith had sought him out now spared him the time it would take to track him down.

As the three-eyed cow landed however, the old demon on its back didn't seem like he knew what he was looking at. Totosai's already ridiculously over-sized eyes were wider than normal, threatening to overcome the smith's forehead and perhaps pop out and dangle by the cords. He was holding his long hammer and one old hand was twisted around the straps of his large bag of materials. He stank of the Half-breed Inuyasha, and many different humans.

"Lord Sesshoumaru... so you've finally returned." Yes, finally.

"Have you come to repair the Tenseiga?" Watching the old demon nod slowly, when the smith spoke his voice had a dry, wheezing quality to it that Sesshoumaru found irritating, but tolerated.

"I have." Totosai climbed down off his servant's back and patted the thick animal on its wide neck: it was permission for the beast to begin grazing on the clover and grasses growing at their feet. The sword-smith's eyes left his just long enough to look down at the swords resting against Sesshoumaru's side, then boldly came back up. The old demon set his bag of materials on the ground behind him- the sack almost as large as Totosai himself, and lifted his hand up, fingers spread and palm open. "May I?"

Stepping forward and pulling the sheathed Tenseiga from his belt, the Demon Lord held the broken weapon out and allowed the sword-smith to gingerly remove it from his grasp. Totosai didn't say anything for a few moments, merely held the blade with its hilt up and hands wrapped around the sheathe carefully.

"Such a powerful enchantment, Lord Sesshoumaru. This certainly explains a few things." Such as-? .

"Will you be able to retain the blessing, Totosai?" Fujin's gift to the Tenseiga: the ability to slice through and cut the immortal power of deities. He had not forgotten about it, the sword had merely remained in such a sorry state for so long that it had not come up. In fact the enchantment had failed once already, it was only the potential of such a decisive cut that made it worth bringing up now. He had not forgotten about it.

"That depends on Tenseiga's constitution." The old demon mused, still looking the sheathed weapon up and down, his eyes aimed to penetrate the black covering. "It was broken suddenly, and then immediately after that you were violently-" A very meaningful look warned Totosai from finishing that sentence, and the smith looked up in time to choke on the words. He had lost, he had been sealed, but _this_ Sesshoumaru would not tolerate anyone dwelling on the issue, least of all someone standing in front of him and _so far below_. "So it depends on how the Tenseiga has coped with- ehh... _that." _Very well. "Could you... show me the Bakusaiga?"

The weak deflection and bumbling subject change gave the Demon Lord a moment to collect his temper, using it like his earlier lust and forcing the energy into his physical self to alleviate the tinge of hunger in his gut. He drew his sword carefully to avoid having the blade get ahead of itself and attack the smith. Bakusaiga's white hilt hummed against his palm, its patterned blade shining in the sun as Totosai looked the weapon up and down- then focused on Sesshoumaru's wrist.

"I thought Tenseiga was twisting things, but your marks have actually changed colour." ...Yes. From fuchsia across his face and curled around his wrists and other places, to a deep shade of maroon. He had not expected any changes to manifest themselves on his skin when he marked Kagura, but he rarely noticed the alteration. It had done nothing to his powers. "So, is she pretty?"

_THWACK. _

That... _smile, _would not be tolerated.

"It was an innocent question- !" He did not _care_. It was satisfying to see the red welt left by the flat of Bakusaiga form across the sword-smith's scalp. "But it's good, very very good..."

"What is?"

"That you feel strong and confident enough now to take a mate." _THWACK. _"It was a compliment!"

"Do not insult me, old man." Sheathing Bakusaiga as Totosai nursed the criss-crossed marks smarting on his head, Sesshoumaru didn't care to listen to the demon's senile babbling any longer. He was worse than Tenseiga. "Repair the fang and return it to me when it is ready." He turned to head back towards the hot-spring, finished with this meeting.

"Hey wait! Sesshoumaru, you want the Nintoujou back, don't you?" The Staff of Two Heads? Hearing it mentioned, Sesshoumaru _did_ stop walking, looking back over his left shoulder just enough to show that he was listening. "I'll bet you haven't been able to pick up Jaken's scent once yet since you got back, thanks to all that smoke and ash." Clearly the old man was going through another senile moment, he knew better than to use insults to get Sesshoumaru's attention and _patience._

"So he's been staying with you, and the humans." He examined the old demon's scent again and realizing Inuyasha's stink was too deeply ingrained for brief, sporadic contact. Totosai must have been living in the human village, or at least close to it. And this meant that his volcano had either been over-run by some sort of demon, or even the oldest residents of the Western Lands had fled the fighting. still between the Half-breed, the humans, and the fumes of smithing... there was a hint of toad.

"Ever since your palace was destroyed some six months ago." Totosai was nodding dumbly "Inuyasha rescued him and Ah-Un out in the wastes fleeing the Western Lands. To be honest, no one would've known they were out there if your nephew hadn't gone and found them." Sesshoumaru had had nothing to say until Totosai made a revolting accusation to distract him. If he had no brother then why would anyone assume he had a _nephew? _He swallowed his revulsion and posed a different question.

"And Jaken has simply stayed in Inuyasha's village. Why?" He turned enough that he could see Totosai again and levelled the query at him. The staff was not something for Jaken to lose, so at least that was not the issue here. Jaken had also been within the Western Lands until the palace's destruction, so he had most likely also been hidden within the walls during the invasions and battles. This was all more or less good news, but Sesshoumaru was not about to feel relief until he found and interrogated the toad himself.

"That's the strange part." Totosai answered, his wheezing voice beginning to seriously grate on the Demon Lord's nerves as he turned his bulbous eyes skyward. "Y'see Ah died only a few days after their arrival, terrible wounds and poisons, but Un is still alive and Jaken refuses to leave him." ...What?

"Ah and Un share the same body." He watched the smith's reaction carefully, even though there was nothing to see.

"And the body's dead too: Un can't eat or do anything, just control its neck, one leg and part of its tail." While it was not unheard of for a piece of a demon to remain alive after the rest was dead, this story still surprised him. Ah-Un was one dragon, one being. If enough damage had been done to kill one of them then it should have translated to both. What was sustaining Un?

"My servant is not a grave guardian."

"That's what your brother keeps saying about Inumaru, except he says son instead of servant." Totosai made his comment and then seemed to _realize_ what exactly he'd said. The smith started gripping the Tenseiga nervously like the blade would protect him if Sesshoumaru lashed out, and he nearly did before-

"Inu-_what?_" Kagura's voice. Sesshoumaru closed his eyes slowly.

He took a calming lung-full of her scent to help combat the frustration that welled up at the chipper, almost-laughing tone of her words. He knew how long it took her to dress, so it made sense that she would join him like she chose to now; standing at his side with him positioned properly between her and the smith. Kagura's hair was still damp but held up off her face and neck, her green fan spread wide and hiding her grinning face from Totosai's gaze.

"No wonder you refused to tell me his name, Sesshou_maru_." Their relationship clicked with the smith when she wasn't struck down for toying with his name.

"Oh! Is this the blushing bride, Lord Sesshoumaru?" He recognized her, there was bewilderment and an ounce of concern in the smith's bulbous eyes, and if he had not sheathed Bakusaiga already Sesshoumaru would have snapped it over his head again. Tenseiga seemed to read his reaction however, and there was a pulse through blade and sheath in Totosai's hands. It was the groggy sword's way of telling him to shut up.

"_Enough_." He stated. Kagura knew better than to reach out and touch him when they were not alone, but he could feel her eyes needling the side of his face, the woman searching out any glimmer of a reaction to her taunting. "I will go and collect Jaken." The sword-smith needed a moment to catch up with the conversation, then nodded. Kagura pouted.

"What, alone again? You can't hide your brother's family from me forever, Sesshoumaru." No, but he could try. Of course, simply thinking the words made him feel juvenile; the Demon Lord fought down the urge to curl his lip at the woman before he turned away.

"I did not tell you to stay. We're leaving." His answer given, Sesshoumaru began to move away through the trees, putting distance between them and the hot-spring. Kagura was able to pitch her chuckle too low for Totosai and just high enough for the Demon Lord to hear, following his easy pace through the woods. He felt like walking, at least for now. It didn't take as much energy as flying, but it felt more active. Activity was good for him right now.

Ah had died but Un still lived, if this was true then there must have been something keeping the second head alive. And if it was true, and Sesshoumaru's suspicions were confirmed... He hadn't quite decided how he would react.

"...Why are you following us?" Kagura was the one to ask the question after a few minutes of silence and too many footsteps.

"Err... _well..._"

"Out with it, old man." Sesshoumaru stopped walking and just glanced back over his shoulder at the smith. He refused to do more than that as Totosai played with his hands and looked for support in the vacant gaze of his cow, who was also following. When he spoke up the smith looked at Kagura instead, which, given what he had to say, was a very wise decision.

"I need one of his fangs..." He _what?_ "To bond Tenseiga's pieces."

His wife didn't stop giggling until the new tooth grew in.

* * *

><p><strong>*does a little dance thing*<strong>

**Err, tiny problem though. It seems I've become distracted by the shinies of this pairing, so while I've had half a week and completed about twenty-thousand words of writing since this went live on Wednesday, TMTR hasn't moved more than a few paragraphs from where it was in Chapter 16. This does not bode well, but since Chapters 14 and 15 are more or less the conclusion of an event arc (and a big one too), I'm cool with my update schedule.**

**I do, however, regret that I found it too frustrating to continue my edits with chapters 8 and 9, so you'll be getting the previous draft of those. The apology will make sense when we get there.**

**For now, I've amassed over a hundred and fifty hits in this story in 3 days: I know you're out there, so you'd better review!**


	4. I: A Sudden Farewell

**Brothers in Arms, Room of Angels,**

**Yay, tension!**

* * *

><p><em><strong>To Make Things Right<strong>_

A Sudden Farewell

"Oh how cute! They've fortified one side of the village!"

Inuyasha's village was still a small human settlement surrounded by fertile rice-paddies, its modest buildings dominated by the shrine sitting high up on the town hill. The only discernible changes were the fortifications along the eastern side of the hamlet: their main defence was the forest of fallen trees, their trunks cut to spikes and rammed into the ground to provide a prickly barrier against demons. There was also a mystic barrier in place as well, something neither she nor Sesshoumaru tried crossing too quickly.

Kagura didn't ask why Totosai travelled so close to the tiny town with them, but was thankful when the smith abruptly spoke up to say that Tenseiga would take three days to repair, then took his leave and shot off to the north. Mo-Mo didn't fly very far though, and Kagura was actually able to watch the cow descend below the tree-line again into a small highland rise. Hadn't Totosai lived in a volcano? Eh, maybe it had erupted while they were gone.

"We will wait here." She knew he was minding both the wind and his own aura as they approached the village. Sesshoumaru made them approach from down-wind, and landed on the ground a good mile before they were actually within sight of the village. Kagura didn't enjoy making these observations about him, but didn't call him on his strange behaviour as her mate stood on a rise looking down at the human settlement. The orange sun-set bathed the huts with soft light, the reflections off the water tinted gold... rather than watch the light paint the same effect across his features, the dancer simply stood there quietly with her arms folded. Waiting.

"If you go at night, Jaken may think you're just a dream." The toad's exact location was unknown to Kagura, she'd never been close enough to the mouthy little servant at a time to learn much about his aura: she'd just followed Sesshoumaru's. Still, when her husband ignored her attempt at conversation a _second_ time, Kagura let some of her frustration show. She knew what was bothering him, and it irritated her. Maybe even made her a little jealous. "Do I need to leave?"

Sesshoumaru didn't _answer_, but the Demon Lord turned his head just enough to look at her, finally acknowledging something she'd said. The dusk light played with his hair and cut across his irii, turning the gold different shades of blue and green, but his appearance didn't satisfy her, not right now. The silence just frustrated her even more.

"Well?" She pressed, arms still folded stiffly over her chest. "Do you need me to go fly off for a few hours while you settle your business?" More silence, but not the kind that meant he just wasn't going to answer. He was weighing things in his mind, considering his words, and she hated the hesitation.

"There is nothing to settle." And he looked back down at the village.

"_Bullshit._" He was just hiding his scent, and his aura, and he was waiting until all the little humans and their Half-breed lord fell asleep. Kagura hoped it was Inuyasha giving him pause, she was _praying_ that it was Sesshoumaru's half-brother... Because if he was so disturbed by the presence of some human girl- human _woman:_ then she'd have to kill something. As his wife Kagura would have to kill Rin.

_'He wants to see her, I know he does.'_ And because he wanted to, he was hesitant to even go near the village. If Sesshoumaru had waited a century for Kagura to awaken, she knew he wouldn't have spent all of those years alone. He would have collected that ugly little human girl and carried her away with him, he would have made the jump from guardian to husband. He would have let himself grow soft towards the kind of creature he hated most, and that level of compromise made Kagura twist and shake trying to control her envy.

The jealousy surprised her because it was so strong. It wasn't a haughty arrogance or a straightening of the spine, it was a killing instinct: retaliatory and wild. How dare she? How dare that stupid, ugly, short-lived little girl do this sort of damage to his composure? How dare she make _Kagura's_ Sesshoumaru hesitate and waffle around trying to hide in the trees? She was picking apart his focus, splitting what precious little attention he had to spare away from his chosen mate to spend on _Rin_ instead.

And Kagura knew he had, in fact, done nothing but avoid making his presence obvious. She knew he had, really, done nothing for Rin or against her. She knew this, she _knew_, but she still felt that toxic hate spreading through her veins, her strong heart pumping the poison through her body. Maybe there was a little bit of Naraku in her after all: she'd gone and broken up a happy courtship, hadn't she?

"Kagura." Stern face, serious voice; nothing she hadn't dealt with before.

"Figure it out on your own." Plucking one of the feathers out of her hair, Kagura turned away. Her fingertips had brushed the cluster of topaz stones set on the ivory back of her comb, but she didn't disturb the fixture. She was mad at him, not _mad_ at him. "I'll find you later."

"I forbid you to leave." He said the words quickly after hers but without any sense of urgency, and this caused her to glance back at him. Sesshoumaru's gold eyes were watching her closely, but she could clearly see, as expected, that there wasn't anything worthwhile in his gaze. She looked away and released the feather, let it catch an up-draft that sent the downy spine spinning around behind her head and fluttering on the dusk currents.

"Forbid all you want, it doesn't mean I'll obey." Or did he really believe she listened to him because she felt compelled to? Judging by the brief flash that crossed his eyes; yes, he really did think so. Ignorant stray. "Free to stay, free to _go._ Idiot."

She finished the insult in time to hear the sinuous crunch of her feather splintering between Sesshoumaru's claws, not reaching for the second one yet as he phased directly in front of her. Kagura had her arms folded by the time he dropped the mangled quill, meeting that cold, cold copper gaze with one that she hoped let him know how much of a fool he was being.

"You will stay."

"And watch you deal with your little human girl? Not likely."

"There is nothing to deal with."

"Then why are you still up here? You're hiding!" Dropping her arms and striking him with the accusation, Kagura watched him give her the blank stare that always came when he didn't want to answer a question. "Fine, if it's not Rin then it's Inuyasha you're worried about. You think your little brother might be a threat?" His eyes changed abruptly when she spoke the Half-breed's name; pupils thinning and irii growing round and wide. A deep warning growl climbed out of his chest and Kagura pointed a finger at him accusingly.

"_That_ should be your reaction when I talk about Rin!" The growling stopped, but his face didn't change. Enough, she was done with this. She lifted her hands up between them, palms out like she was going to shove him if he tried stopping her. "Go. Go deal with the girl and collect your servant, then come and find me."

Turning away again, Kagura started walking. She was just reaching up for her second feather when she felt his hand close tightly around her wrist, jerking her around roughly to face him again. He was back to growling, Sesshoumaru always reverted to those throaty animal sounds when he was irritated: he was too good to actually speak to her.

"_You will stay._" His aura flared to lend the words weight; white, blue and green coming away from his shoulders and chest and wrapping around her, soaking through her clothes and seeking out the marks across her shoulders and chest. It was invasive and burning, not _trying_ to be pleasant as he smothered her. Was that how he wanted to play then? _Fine._ She could do this his way.

"Over _her_ dead body." Sesshoumaru's energy reached her marks, but Kagura let her own aura concentrate and form a screen of red to get in the way of his advances. She watched surprise creep up in his eyes but didn't stop, red soaking through her skin and attacking his wrist where he was still holding her arm. _His_ marks flared, and the Demon Lord suddenly released her, shocked.

The maroon slashes on his skin were throbbing, she could see it happening. Kagura quickly released her feather so it could grow and whisk her away up into the air. For good measure, she even sent a gust of wind down past him that swept along the hillside towards the village. It wouldn't go all the way to the huts, but it would be enough for anyone _looking _for a scent to know where he was hiding.

"Deal with them first." He was mad as he stared up after her, but Kagura knew he wouldn't give chase. Sesshoumaru wouldn't let Inuyasha think he had come all the way to the edge of the village, then run away before his brother could appear. She knew his pride better than that.

_'I'd love to watch him fight Inuyasha again.'_ Kagura turned west into the wind and flew steadily after that, gaining enough height that she would be hard to see against the vibrant dusk sky. _'But I won't tolerate seeing him with Rin.'_

Not even for a moment, not as a guardian, or a friend, or anything at all.

* * *

><p>For several moments, Sesshoumaru was too enraged to even let himself breathe. He watched Kagura vanish and kept his senses closed against her scent, tracking her in his mind as the sorceress faded into the sunset. He forced the coloured marks on his skin to calm and behave, disgusted that they could be so easily manipulated by the woman: she had not marked him, mating did not work that way. She became <em>his<em>, but Kagura did not own _him._

"Sesshoumaru?" Putting aside his rage was not a simple task, but it was one he was capable of and performed before turning around to face the sound of his name. He didn't even turn all the way, refusing to give his half-brother that much of his attention.

In appearance, Inuyasha had not changed much in the twelve years since they had last met. The robe of the fire rat was still worn in the same style, the demonic material no worse for the constant wear. Barefoot, long silver hair, and two canine ears resting on top of his head, even his amber eyes, too close in colour to Sesshoumaru's own, looked exactly as they always had. The Half-breed did not age as humans did, so there was nothing in his outward appearance to indicate that any time at all had passed.

What _did_ hint at the passing years was how Tetseiga remained silent at the Half-breed's hip. Inuyasha made no move to draw the sword, and the blade seemed content with his passive choice. He didn't even honour Sesshoumaru's presence by appearing tense or on edge; his spine straight and shoulders lax and back, weight resting firmly on his feet, not antsy or waiting to move. The Half-breed somehow felt confident enough to approach him as an equal, how disgusting.

"Where the hell have you been?" And he remained as profane as ever, even if there was a lack of violent heat in his words. "You don't even smell the same, your aura's different."

"Then your senses grow dull." Turning a bit more now as one of his half-brother's clawed hands moved to hover over Tetseiga's hilt, Inuyasha had grown suspicious by the time Sesshoumaru faced him properly. His stance didn't change, not completely, but the elder brother watched one bare foot slide back a little over the grass. Ignorant fool. "I am the same."

"No, there's too much red." Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes, just a little, at the presumptuous remark. "Your marks, your _yoki_, even your scent-"

"Enough." So Kagura had changed him then? He found this difficult to believe but refused to argue the point now, least of all with the Half-breed. "Where is Jaken?" Similar gold eyes blinked back at him, confused.

"That's why your here?"

"Why else would I come?" His answer gave Inuyasha pause, the Half-breed's clawed fingers slipping off Tetseiga's hilt. "I have no interest in attacking your pathetic village."

"No, I didn't think you wanted that." Then why rush up here as he had? Sesshoumaru was curious, but refrained from asking the question, remaining still with his arms hanging at ease down his sides. His annoyance with Kagura was almost forgotten until he noticed his half-brother looking around curiously, too obvious in his search for the second scent.

"She left."

"It's familiar..." It had been many years since Inuyasha had last been close enough to Kagura to pick up her scent, but Sesshoumaru refused to help him identify the odour. The longer he watched the Half-breed, the more desperate and confused Inuyasha became. He was clearly disturbed by what his nose was telling him. "You're _married?_" Despite his issues with Kagura, Sesshoumaru still found it difficult not to smile at the hopeless expression on the Half-breed's face.

"Perhaps I have changed." But enough of this. "Where is Jaken?"

"What about Rin?" The first reaction was for the hairs on the back of his neck to rise quickly, followed shortly by a hot flash over his marks- the memory of Kagura's fierce hate. He had not expected his mate to behave so violently at the thought of Rin, but he resented the weight Inuyasha gave the girl. "You've been gone for so long, it's your right or whatever but what about-"

"Rin is human, it has nothing to do with her." Strength and pride, those where the virtues he called on now. He was not going to knuckle under the weight of a presumed relationship. Kagura had been dead, Rin had been alive, restored to life by his own power and then again by a rare act of charity from his mother. But now Kagura was alive, Kagura was his mate, and Rin was human.

"I'll bring Jaken here to you."

"I will see Un myself." His half-brother gave him a dirty look, and Sesshoumaru refused to acknowledge it.

"So you didn't _just_ come for Jaken."

"Inuyasha..." Resting his right hand over Bakusaiga's white hilt, the lone sword felt eager under his palm. It had never faced the Tetseiga in battle before, there had been no cause for them to fight after Naraku's death: now it sensed a chance. "If you continue to delay I will simply have to find Jaken and Ah-Un myself, my own way." He had not come so far out of his way just to terrorize a meaningless human village, but if threatening the tiny settlement would get his brother to co-operate properly, then Sesshoumaru would oblige him. The conflict was visible on the Half-breed's face: his own mate and children were still down there.

"This way." Good dog. Inuyasha turned and began to walk slowly down the hill he'd charged up a few minutes earlier, and Sesshoumaru set an easy pace for himself as he followed, amused with the intense disappointment exuded by his sword. Bakusaiga was already sick of tasting only fire and ash. "Rin will be there."

They moved down off the slope of the hill and walked along a narrow bridge of land across the rice paddies, the water still reflecting the sun's dying rays as bands of gold. Briefly, the sight reminded the Demon Lord that the gardens and fields of his estate, the ones that had no doubt been annihilated months ago.

"She should tend to her children instead." Rin was... twenty five. If Sesshoumaru cared to remember correctly then Kagome had married at eighteen, so by now Rin would have a human husband and children to tend to.

"Rin isn't married." ...A mistake then. "Kohaku proposed three times, brought her gifts, offered to let her travel with him, but she refused him." Kohaku, the boy who had been rescued from Naraku. Rin had enjoyed his presence as a child, it was unwise of her to reject him.

"Do you expect me to feel guilt over her poor choices, little brother?" Rin's life was not in his hands, he had protected her and allowed the girl to travel with him. He was not her father.

"I figured you'd want to know. You made Kaede her guardian, then took off and left after the old woman died." Mm... It was difficult to remember such a menial conversation from such a bleak time, but yes. The old priestess had died as a result of Eurus's Kamikaze; the hut she had shared with Rin had collapsed and crushed the old woman. The thirteen-year-old Rin had been upset and asked him if the storm had been caused by a demon, he had told her no.

He had not been wrong: the storm had not been the fault of a demon, and Sesshoumaru had punished the minor god for his actions. It was not the sort of tale worth recounting however, Eurus had barely put up a fight.

"How did you break Tenseiga, Sesshoumaru?" Oh? For a moment he was surprised the Half-breed knew about Tenseiga, but then recalled Totosai's very close proximity to the village. The smith had probably told him, or it was simply an assumption based on the sword's absence from his side.

"Does the younger brother now desire the sword of the elder?" Inuyasha made a low sound in his nose, gritting his teeth. Even if Sesshoumaru couldn't see the sour expression he could still sense the change.

"I respect Tenseiga, but the fangs don't just snap." From the rice-paddies now the pair had come to a large slope that signalled where the land and water began to bend and move down through the trees. "How did it break?"

For a moment Sesshoumaru became suspicious that his servants were being housed in Onigumo's cave, but Jaken's scent reached him too soon for the cursed location to be correct. The soil was damp however, the air musty as it grew dark without the sun. It was the sort of musk and that bred mosquitoes and leeches, dark and slimy. Appropriate for the toad perhaps, but distasteful to the Demon Lord: as were the persistent questions.

"It was damaged in battle."

"Tenseiga isn't a fighting sword."

"Married life has made you tedious, little brother, let us hope that I avoid that fate." His quip silenced Inuyasha again, the Half-breed clearly irritated with his presence now, and that suited Sesshoumaru. He did not want to be here and bond with their father's greatest misdeed, he was here for very specific reasons.

"There." They both stopped, but for different reasons as Inuyasha pointed out the hovel where Jaken's scent was concentrated. A small hill had been hollowed out with a few wooden posts supporting the roof and a bit of scaffolding in the front around the entrance. Sesshoumaru didn't doubt that it was dank and wretched inside, but more importantly he could smell two familiar odours; rotted demonic flesh, and Rin. She was in there along with Jaken and the dragon.

"How are you going to deal with her?" Maybe they didn't stop for different reasons, but the Demon Lord put Rin from his immediate concerns when Inuyasha spoke up, unwilling to share thoughts with him. Sesshoumaru simply repeated what he had said to Kagura:

"There is nothing to deal with." Nothing except Rin, Jaken, and Un.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter done!<strong>

**I really, _really_ should be giving these chapters the extra proof-read they deserve before posting, but I haven't been. After so much revision I'm just sick of the start of this story xD**

**But you read it, so review it!**


	5. I: Dealing with Trouble

**Kikyo's Heart, Kuon no Kawa, With You (AAA).**

**Aaand now Sunny gets to do summer classes again. Whee. Actually it's kinda nice, especially since classes are Monday and Wednesday nights, so I have something to do on evenings where there are no updates!**

**It unfortunately also means I'm exhausted by the time I get home at 11:30, so yeah I'm posting at mid-night but I sure as sin didn't give it a final proof.**

* * *

><p><em><strong>To Make Things Right<strong>_

Dealing with Trouble

"Lord Sesshoumaru?"

Rin had grown, the years had changed her so much that it made it strange for his eyes to move between her and Inuyasha. Humans were so susceptible to time, they couldn't afford to forget weeks or months of their lives, let alone years. They could not live oblivious or out of touch with the progress of nature. Had either he or his half-brother been human, their respective years sealed by old rivals would have been crushing to deal with: Inuyasha for fifty years, Sesshoumaru for twelve.

"I always, _always_ knew you would come back." Rin's face had been chang_ing_ when Sesshoumaru left, but now the gap-toothed little girl had been completely consumed by the human woman standing in front of him. Her eyes still had the same shape, her small nose was the proper length and width, but her lips had spread and filled out, become naturally red instead of a girlish pink. Her hair had lost the little tail on the side of her head, and a single ribbon held the brown-black lengths behind her head to trail smoothly down her back. There wasn't a single wave or ripple to disturb the fall.

"Even when the others said- when Kohaku said... I just, I knew you weren't dead! No one can kill Lord Sesshoumaru!" She wore better clothing than he would expect for a farming village, not silk, but sturdy cotton patterned green and blue under a grey apron. Rin was dressed for work, her hands were calloused and her bare feet were obviously dirty, but she was clean enough to show that care was taken with her appearance, more so than when she had been a child.

"You should be so ashamed!" This outburst pulled Sesshoumaru out of his thoughts enough to properly focus on what was going on, confused by Rin's voice and the accusing statement until he saw her dark almond eyes were focused on the Half-breed, not him. "You know Lord Sesshoumaru's power better than anyone, but you let everyone convince you that your brother was dead! How could you, Inuyasha? I can't believe you would-"

"-raise a young woman with such foul manners." Sesshoumaru's voice interrupted Rin's tirade, and he felt all eyes come to him- even the gob-smacked yellow ones peering out of the hovel's dark interior. Jaken had yet to make a blubbering appearance, but the toad was obviously at hand, watching, listening. "Tell me, little brother, are all of your children equally ungrateful?"

"Sesshoumaru..?" The Half-breed was confused, his voice soft as he only spoke part of the question. How pathetic of him.

"Rin." She was staring at him, her face an open mixture of shock and deep, deep hurt, emotions he acknowledged but kept at arm's length. She was human, so the beauty she held surprised him, but he found himself comparing her now; the sound of her voice, the way she held her head, the shades of colour in her hair... his marks itched around his wrist but he refused to acknowledge the call. "I am given to understand that you have lived with Inuyasha's family since the Kamikaze twelve years ago. Is this true?"

"Y-yes m'lord." She used the title with deference, submission in her eyes along with a distinct sense of loyalty. "Lady Kagome has been my mentor." He weighed her response carefully, what it meant, how it was delivered. Rin was tentatively seeking his approval.

"You have worked and learned from his wife, cared for his children, fed at his table, slept within his walls, and accepted his protection. Is this true?"

"I-It is, my lord..."

"And you have rejected marriage. More than once." Rin didn't understand the accusation- or rather, it was clear on her face that the comment surprised her. She didn't see how marriage applied to the conversation, very well then. "So you have refused to become anything more than a guest and a burden to him, correct?" Suspicion crystallized in her brown eyes, but fear weakened the lines of her face; sorrow made her grow pale and tremble. "I expect an answer."

"I don't need you to defend me from a mouthy girl, Sesshoumaru." Inuyasha spoke up, his voice at last reclaiming that scathing, scrappy sound that made him sound a little less human. "Now stop toying with her, she's still loyal, isn't she?" The Half-breed presumed loyalty to be worth more than respect. His examination told him Rin was as capable of feeling both emotions as Kagura was, but the persistent fear, the sorrow, the grief... she was not strong enough to express those feelings properly.

_'And her life is already half over, she would not have time to learn.'_ And even if she did... _'Under everything else, I can still smell that little girl.'_ If he had not possessed Kagura already, if he had not been able to actively compare the two signatures in his mind, would Sesshoumaru have ever noticed that stinging memory of youth in Rin's skin? If his mate had taken a human life-time to awaken and join him again in this world, would he have taken Rin in the meantime, and would he have regretted it?

He asked the questions but none of them truly resonated with him. Nothing he asked left him with a sense of wonder, or longing, or loss. All he wanted was Kagura, because he was thinking about her and she was not here. Rin was here. Rin was not enough.

"Forever with Lord Sesshoumaru." Hm? He came out of his thoughts again and saw Rin still standing in front of him, one thin arm wrapped around her waist while her other hand had her long fingers clasped tightly under her chin. "That was what I always wanted. I just clung to that dream." She was just barely starting to tremble, not crying, but terrorized by the emotions inside of her. The storm was unpleasant to his nose, he wanted it to go away because it irritated him. "So please, please I-" She should go away.

"My wife has no need for a human servant." He knew the words would hurt her, he knew, from how she stood and spoke and rested her weight, that they would strike her physically and her body would not be able to cope. He knew this and in a way it disgusted him, because she was human, and _for_ a human she was strong, but she was entirely too weak to remain near him.

No one said anything. Rin clasped one slender hand over her mouth as her body shuddered and she hit the ground on her knees, head down like she was trying to bow to him as her voice and lungs refused to work together. Inuyasha didn't speak or move towards him or the girl, merely stood watch with a stoic attitude which, almost, garnered him a bit of respect. Sesshoumaru merely strode past the crumpled human, tasting the scent of salty tears running down familiar pale cheeks. He then spread his senses out searching for the beloved trace of flower petals, barely catching a distant breath of alpine air.

He had dealt with Rin, and now it was time for Jaken.

* * *

><p>Kagura flew west for about half an hour, then allowed herself the ease to veer off any semblance of course and simply follow the gusts and whims of the wind. The moon wasn't quite out before she felt light enough to rise up on her feather and jump into the air, arms spread as she gave a small laugh and sailed across the twilight. Flipping onto her back as she fell, Kagura deftly tucked her shrunken feather back into place within her hair.<p>

She felt the comb again and drew the demon-bone relic out of her hair, black locks fanning out around her shoulders as she continued to fall and slice through the air. The sorceress had a keen awareness of the ground and wasn't worried about crashing into the trees, turning again so she was facing the fast-approaching earth before she smiled and twisted her shoulders around.

_Becoming_ the wind was an ability Kagura had never possessed while bound to Naraku, it had come to her only after she had woken up a world and a half away from these familiar islands. She didn't remember the Kamikaze, only what she'd seen and sensed that night when the wind gods Fujin and Boreas had battled one another for the thousands of spirits, herself included, that had been caught up in the divine storm.

But she remembered the cave Boreas had used Sesshoumaru's body to cleave into the mountain. She had woken up in the immediate after-math of the pummelling blast that had picked up the Demon Lord and shattered every iron bone in his body. There had been a vision, a moment of complete clarity and peace, where she had seen and spoken to him while still in the clutches of her dream, and then suddenly the world was cold, dark, and saturated in demon blood.

_'He does love me.'_ Moving now, over twelve years later, through the wind and currents over the lands she had always known was exhilarating and good. To be back, to be home, to be alive and free. _'If he loved her, if he wanted her, he wouldn't hesitate. Sesshoumaru never avoids his own goals.'_

Putting herself back together again and catching an unexpected up-draft, Kagura let her feather grow again and reclined back on the white vessel. With the moon overhead the topaz stones in her hand looked like pieces of gold, she admired how they crowned the off-white bristles of demon bone. Lazily reaching up and touching one of her earrings, the topaz drops were gifts from Sesshoumaru, but the comb had been the first one. He didn't like seeing her walk around with her hair down and tangled, and when she rejected Naraku's old relic the Demon Lord had swiftly provided the replacement.

_'My first gift._' From anyone, not just him. Kagura was so swept up in her own thoughts that she almost didn't notice a sudden rise in temperature in the air around her. This up-draft was strong, she was _still_ rising.

Damn it.

Looking over the edge of the feather showed her a rising blast of fire, one that was climbing intentionally to her height. Fear was crushed by the need to move and a sudden flash of indignation: how _dare_ someone just come along and attack her in the air? Rolling off her feather, Kagura was still gripping her comb as her body split into the wind: she'd fix her hair later.

Her awareness of energy patterns and movements was always stronger as the wind, and Kagura took advantage of this now as she angled herself down through the eye of the rising vortex. Fire and air mixed together created a hotter, higher flame, but as she descended into the inferno the sorceress brought a gust of cold air down with her in a vacuum. Spinning with the flames and pushing outward, the heat was dispersed and the entire attack fizzled out, Kagura powering down until she found the source and struck the demon with a condensed blast of air.

The semi-human form confused her until Kagura remembered that they were much too high in the air for a human to be responsible for the attack. Her attacker was still falling back through the air though, vanishing into the tree-line and frightening a small flock of birds with his rude impact. Kagura just huffed after him, reforming and calling her feather to her so she could kneel down on it again. A lash of wind from her fan also clipped the wing of a fleeing bird, and she drew the long black feather over and twirled it through a portion of her tangled hair to hold it back. Not as good as her comb, but that would require several moments and both hands to put in place.

"Hmph. Idiot." Calling the wind to lift her up higher into the air, Kagura turned herself east and prepared to fly away. If her attacker still wasn't up, then he was either too scared or too weak to fight. Both options suited her, although Kagura _did_ have time to waste before her mate gave in and found her. A fight would have been nice-

"How did you do that?" The voice startled both her and the winds she'd called to carry her along, the feather bumping as Kagura held off a sharp gasp. Turning on her feather, the vessel took on a strong keel but the sorceress ignored it; she wouldn't fall. Behind her, hovering on what looked like a cloud of red smoke, was a demon she had to assume was the one she'd just blasted.

_'Phoenix.'_ Even in the moonlight the other demon had the tanned skin and pale eyes that distinguished his race in their human form. She knew his long, straight hair was red, but the exact shade was obscured by the moon's silver rays. He wore it tied back severely behind his head and long down his back, and what looked like some sort of leather diadem with metal pieces on it was looped around his brow as well, his skin marked with red slashes across his brow that formed a geometric pattern below the strap. His features were strong, with a square jaw and a long, beak-like nose, altogether not unpleasant to look at.

For some reason the demon was clothed suspiciously like a human lord, or perhaps a samurai: Kagura couldn't tell the difference. His clothing was garish though, red and gold and orange, all patterned over and over again. Whoever he was, despite the lack of sword or other visible weapon, he looked important. Clean shaven, his eyes were strangely open, curious as he looked at her. It was more like he was looking_ beyond _her really, maybe the moon was too bright for him.

"Do what?" She demanded sharply, and the phoenix blinked. "What's one of your kind doing this far east anyways? I thought you liked to frolic in the wastes you've made of the west." It wasn't hard to call up the venom to make her words sting, Kagura allowing the poison to fall off her lips so the curious bird would understand how _thrilled _she was to see one of his kind.

"You're quite bold."

"My apologies, I'll try and become more timid and stupid for your pleasure." For a moment he looked deeply amused, but Kagura didn't care whether he was impressed with her or not. His curiosity was a persistent thing too, and he focused his attention properly on her face and eyes as he spoke again.

"Tell me how you disturbed the vortex like that, I haven't seen it done before." He made the demand and yet his voice was soft when he spoke, not weak or humble, just soft, like he was speaking from deep in the back of his throat.

"Are you telling me you've never been overpowered?" Kagura scoffed, unimpressed by his ignorance. But it made her happy in a way too: Sesshoumaru would have an easy time dispatching the birds if they were all untested and curious like this.

"I assure you, maiden, you could not over-power me." Maiden? Kagura almost laughed, but drew her fan and opened it over her lips and nose instead, hiding her sneer. His face changed as well as he made the remark, his voice pitched a bit lower as he made his little boast, his eyes hardening _just_ enough that he looked serious, but not threatening. "At least, not with strength alone..."

"Hah!" With the short laugh she snapped her fan shut and stared at him. "A phoenix and a flirt all in one! What a lucky night!" Kagura expected, given his soft voice and expressive eyes, that the bird would either glance aside at the accusation, or fluster, or blush, but he just met her gaze evenly after the brief outburst, that shadow of amusement making its return across his bold features.

"Guilty of both, but won't you please answer me?"

"Won't I _please?"_ She repeated, tapping her chin with her closed fan as she glanced off at the starry sky. "I can't remember the last time I've heard that word, it's been such a long while." Despite her light, mocking tone, Kagura looked back at the phoenix and was surprised when she saw his expression had hardened, his forehead lined where his red brows had drawn together with concern. "Hm? What's wrong with you face?"

"If you aren't accustomed to kind manners, then you are either very alone, or poorly treated." Wait, the concern was over _her?_ What a little song-bird, getting all upset over some demoness he'd already attacked on his own tonight.

"Well I'm neither, thank you. And I just mixed cold air with your hot to blow the flames out." There, and now he had his answer too, so he could leave her alone. "I don't know how you fire birds could replicate it since you're just heat and flame, but that's all it was." The fire bird's harsh expression had softened a little when she made her first comment, practically ignoring the description of the counter-technique as his blue gaze drifted off slowly across the sky.

"I apologize, we phoenixes are very clan-oriented, I still find it strange that amongst your family and friends, everyone speaks harshly." That was... a bizarre thing to worry about as far as Kagura was concerned, so she rebuked it just like the earlier one.

"So would I, if I had family or friends to speak of." Opening her fan again without the snap this time, Kagura held the green silk up to cover her mouth again as she spoke, her feather rising a little and moving back through the wind, but the Phoenix just followed. She didn't think he was even paying attention to the movement, but he was watching her intently now.

"You just said you weren't alone."

"And I'm not." She just wasn't with friends or family.

"Are you a captive?" Was that the only alternative he could come up with? She was getting tired of this.

"Don't be ridiculous." That chapter of her life had closed, Kagura would never go back to being someone else's slave. "I'm mated, and I consider that different from having family or a friend."

"Then your husband is the one who mistreats you?" It was time to go. She rolled her red eyes at the stupid question and glanced over her shoulder to the east- the direction she'd tried going in earlier, and saw the sun rising. So she'd wasted the rest of her night talking to this strange bird? It felt like a waste, but Sesshoumaru would probably be a bit longer than one night. If not, he'd find her, she didn't mind.

"Sunrise..." She looked back at the Phoenix where he had followed her gaze east. Their eyes met and his did something strange, his entire face becoming stern again as his soft voice toughened up a little. "You should not have to go if you resent it, an unworthy mate is easily dealt with." Unworthy, yes, that was how she was going to describe her Demon Lord.

"You're sweet, but you're a fool." Kagura let the words drop from her lips as if they meant nothing, something she felt was probably true. She was bored with his prattle and assumptions and turned her ride away now so she could simply leave, not interested in making a proper farewell.

"Wait!" No, no waiting, Kagura didn't slow down as the wind welled up under her feather and began to move her into the dawn light. The flash of fire that signalled the phoenix's movements didn't startle her, but she huffed irritably and drew her fan again as he appeared in front of her. "Tell me your name."

"No."

"How will I find you again if you don't?" Maybe the softness of his voice had been the strange part, not the stern tone. When he spoke to her now every word felt forceful, like he was putting authority into every breath and doing it without trying. Just who was this?

"You won't." She answered stiffly, veering off to the left and swooping down along a welcoming current of air. The phoenix followed with a tail of fire following his feet and wrists, but Kagura didn't stop, just picked up speed and swerved up high again, maintaining the distance between them. "That's the point, I don't like you."

"You don't know me, I could protect you." She was already under protection, thank you. Not that she really needed it either way. "Then your mate, since you think so highly of him, what's _his_ name?" Hmph! Well since he thought so _little_ of him, fine.

"My mate-" Kagura let him catch up to her enough that he was flying just behind her, the flames from his wrists heating the air along her back and spreading warmth down her arms. She didn't like having him so close, and shifted her weight on the feather abruptly to send the white vessel shooting straight up into the sky. He followed, but Kagura merged into the air and split herself, spiralling back down as her true self and a decoy of flower petals and energy, sweeping down towards the green treeline. She could feel two twisting lines of fire following her, intentionally sailing between her own streams of air and patterning the sky with movement and light. "My _husband, _is the Lord of the Western Lands!"

A burst of fire overcame Kagura at her words, her self pulling in tightly until she was an orb of compact air and energy. She came screaming down through the trees and grasses an instant before they were incinerated in sweeping gold flames: and that concerned her. Somewhere within her, the strand of her signature representing Eurus' rod resonated loudly with the display, but Kagura powered her way through the screen of heat.

She reformed on a gust of air moving up and away from the small crater of burning trees and high flame that had scored the forest, turning with her arms spread, fan held between her fingers and letting the wind continue to pull her up. Kagura was just beyond the heat of the inferno when her shoulders suddenly ran up against something hard. Her red eyes went wide as a thick, well-muscled arm wrapped around her waist from behind and held her against a broad chest that lacked any sort of armour save the garish red and gold of a samurai's haori.

"Then that would be me." The words were spoken directly over her ear in that deep, soft voice, and the hooked talons on one phoenix hand grazed the side of her face and scalp before drawing the black feather out of the knot she'd tied behind her head. In the same stroke his hand held and slid through the released locks of her long dark hair. She expected pain when he pulled on the strands and bent her neck, regretting the act as a pair of hot, soft lips pressed and moved down her neck- stopped by the white collar of her gown.

Kagura unfroze when a pulse of something cold and electric spiked through the marks on her chest, painful and jarring her stunned, tense limbs into action. She twisted and let her side press against his waist and hips, feigning affection so he would let her turn: then carved her fan and a blade of cold, sharp wind across his unprotected torso. Blood fountained from a gouge under his right arm all the way up across his neck; the crimson changing to ash as the shocked Phoenix released his hold around her waist.

She kicked her bare-feet against him and flipped her fan between her fingers, several more blades of wind cutting through the air and dealing more damage: after that she turned away and fled on the wind. Kagura had to get away and she had to do it fast: phoenixes had weak bodies, but that was because they would reform from any nearby ash.

The sorceress swore and cursed herself all the way east and then north away from the Western Lands, deep into Inuyasha's territory, and then down into the first source of cold, moving water she could find.

* * *

><p><strong>I don't know if a project I started a week ago has yet <em>over-taken<em> TMTR in terms of length, but if I don't end up getting a few more chapters written on this story soon then a different Sesshoumaru/Kagura project I have will probably go live once I run out of installments here. I've been writing like a BEAST.**

**Review it, especially if you saw any nasty grammatical errors that I was far too sleepy to check for.**


	6. I: And a Brief Reunion

**Kuon no Kawa, Fukai Mori, Together.**

* * *

><p><em><strong>To Make Things Right<strong>_

And a Brief Reunion

His reunion with Jaken had contained considerably more simpering, whining, blubbering, fawning, flattering, crying, sighing and shrieking than Sesshoumaru had been prepared to tolerate. Kagura had severely taxed his patience with her outburst and flight, the Half-breed was intolerable by nature, and Rin had been an unwanted episode. Jaken had simply been too much at that point.

On the one hand, the Demon Lord had found himself taking some surprising amount of comfort in the predictable, familiar nature of the little toad's tearful expositions and over-dramatic accounts of the last twelve years. On the other, the fact that Jaken had not physically_ paused for breath_ more than once every ten minutes had left Sesshoumaru inches from drawing Bakusaiga.

What he heard from Jaken was much the same as what he had already known; only a year or so after his disappearance the unrest had begun in the Western Lands. His mother had, not surprisingly, been the first to actively begin taking pieces of her territories back from his northern border. Other, smaller demonic tribes had also been active: wolves, snakes, panthers, even foxes. For about six or seven years numerous tiny pockets of independent demons had cropped up across the Western Lands, and then the phoenix clan had arrived.

Their leader, he had already known, was called Ryokijin, but Jaken was able to provide more than just a name. Ryokijin's clan had been expelled from his mother's northern domain and had fled down into the south to carve out their own territory. They had done so by literally burning and smoking every other presence out of the land, incinerating forests, purging wet-lands, plugging springs, and so forth.

It was merely a strategy for conquest; rumour had it that Ryokijin was too soft in nature to allow the land to remain dead forever, but so long as there was war he was committed to the devastation. There was bad blood between the phoenixes and Inukimi, a feud Sesshoumaru had no interest in beyond the fact that it was playing out in _his _lands, but it had been the reason why his palace had remained in-tact for so long, and why neither faction had established proper dominance.

The castle had been a prize Inukimi had desired, so rather than focus extensively on solidifying her control over a given area, his mother had constantly doubled back on herself to ward off Ryokijin's flames from eating away at the estate. Jaken and the servants had defended the various gates and walls against both attackers, usually spared by one or the other threat appearing and distracting the first. This had only failed during the last stand: rather than attack Inukimi, Ryokijin had stormed the palace from the opposite direction, placing himself down-wind from the great demoness and decimating her trophy.

"_By burning so much of the Western Lands, Ryokijin has made himself practically immortal! At the start of every fight he either burns the nearby landscape or flees to the burned out plains, and as a Great Demon like yourself, M'lord, he has the added luxury of being able to bide his time before rebirthing from the ash."_ Ryokijin could either reform right away from the ash and charcoal, or lie in wait until a threat or bother had passed. Sesshoumaru disapproved of being compared to the phoenix as an equal: shying away from a threat was disgraceful.

But after all of Jaken's stories, explanations, theories, and blubbering, whining, whimpering, screaming, and crying, Sesshoumaru had turned his attention to Un, and made his decision for the evening.

"_I will return in three days, be ready to depart."_

Jaken had put himself into such a fit about being left behind that Sesshoumaru had been required to bruise the tiny demon's skull with his fist. The toad would have to sleep the lump off for at least a day, which would leave Jaken with only two more to irritate the occupants of Inuyasha's village with until they lynched him.

So long as the Staff of Two Heads remained untouched, Sesshoumaru was not concerned with the tiny settlement. All he wanted as he took to the skies over the village was to find his wife. His stay with Jaken had lasted almost until noon from the night before, so she would be somewhere nearby and calm.

It just surprised him _how_ nearby she was, Sesshoumaru following her faint scent when he caught it unexpectedly close to the village. For a few minutes he thought it was mingled with the slag and sulphur of Totosai, coming to the same set of highland and cliff where the old smith's odour lingered the strongest, but then the two separated on the wind.

There was water near Totosai's little cave, a small cascade leading from the upper plateau down into a cold spring. When he approached Sesshoumaru was wary of Kagura trying to tempt or tease him miserably while she bathed, but he didn't find her clothes discarded anywhere on the rocks or edge of the water, and his woman was not lounging about in the cool grotto. No, when he found her he was very curious, because Kagura, fully dressed, was kneeling under the water fall.

She was down on one knee and bent so the cold water could drum down on the back of her shoulders and neck. She couldn't hear him for the noise, and didn't seem like she was paying any attention to the world around her as he landed and slowly walked around the pool to reach her. Up overhead, within the stone, he could hear the rhythmic beat of a hammer on metal, content with the knowledge that Totosai was working to repair Tenseiga.

He became wet walking around the waterfall, standing now under the cliff in the shallow cave cut by the water and kept dry by the shelf overhead. It was wet here, but Sesshoumaru ignored the cool moisture clinging to his fur and the water splashing his black-shod feet. Kagura's hair was down, and he could see her holding the topaz-crowned comb he'd given her in both hands. Her fingers were white from the cold, but he saw her thumb toying gently with one of the bright yellow stones.

After a few long minutes, she still hadn't looked up. Kagura either hadn't noticed him, which spoke poorly of her abilities, or she was ignoring his presence.

Stepping close, he reached out and let the back and side of his finger brush against one cold, wet cheek. Kagura didn't give a start or a shudder to indicate surprise, but he noticed how she closed her eyes. He kept his touch where it was until she lifted one hand up and grasped his fingers, the Demon Lord returning the small squeeze briefly before they both let go and Kagura started to stand up.

Rather than crawl out of the water his woman stood up straight from under the cascade, turning her face up and ignoring the froth that sprayed out at him as she shook her head. She looked small enough that the water should have snapped her neck back as it struck her, but Kagura was_ not_ human, and her body could endure the abuse without complaint.

Once she was finished saturating her clothing with more water Kagura stepped out of the foaming white, and Sesshoumaru firmly ignored the visual effect. He didn't notice how the draining water caused her green and white gowns to hug her skin possessively: the long white sleeves extending down to hide her hands, heavy with water, and clinging to her slender arms. The forest green bodice was already form-fitting, but as the moisture escaped through the folds the cloth seemed to shrink and suck against his woman's curved waist and round hips. He didn't see how she had undone the white collar around her throat, ignoring the extra inch of skin left exposed before the opening reached the green. And the Demon Lord also made a point of _not_ watching the liquid fingers that skated down the smooth lines of her throat and jaw, the ones that vanished down below the fabric barrier to caress and wrap around the rest of her body.

He didn't see any of this, or pay attention to it, or acknowledge it; in fact he wasn't even aware of anything about her appearance. Except that she was soaking wet, and his, and... Sesshoumaru let one short, rough breath escape out through his nose.

"You're staring." That was out of the question, and the Demon Lord met his mate's tired apple-red eyes sternly to tell her so. Why did she look worn out? "You find me attractive..." And that was not a question at all.

"Why are you so distracted?" They had parted for a night and morning, there was no reason for her to look so miserable. "Fix your hair."

"I was going to." The words held a snap, but it was unexpectedly mild, tired. She raked one hand back through her tangled, soaking hair but did nothing else beyond that, Sesshoumaru noticing now that she had also removed her earrings along with the comb, and his eyes narrowed. Kagura wasn't looking at him, her eyes wandering elsewhere, away from him, as her hands methodically restored the topaz drops to their place on either side of her throat. Once she finished though Kagura stopped, resting one palm over her throat under her left ear. She looked disturbed.

"Kagura."

"I don't feel clean." Is that why she had stood, fully clothed, under the falls? His mate wasn't looking at him, holding her comb between her fingers as she curled her hands and rested them on her hips. She was upset but not flighty or shy, looking up at him boldly after a minute or so of brooding, playing with her hands, taking half-steps back and forth. Irritated, she was irritated now, watching his face and twisting her lips until finally: "Bite me."

"... Excuse me?" It was below him to ask the question, but she surprised him and the words escaped before he could reconsider them.

"I want you to bite me." It was a serious request, but her conviction did not alleviate his confusion. "Or use your claws, or something, just-" She was rubbing that spot again on her neck, running her nails over the skin until it started to go red. He didn't need Tenseiga to tell him something was wrong, instinct was there to guide him, to give him anger that matched hers. Why was his mate so upset? Unclean?

"Come here." She stopped fidgeting and looked at him straight, her expression difficult to read for the few moments it remained on her face. Kagura had folded her arms tightly inside her sodden sleeves, but dropped the pouting stance and did what he said. His mate covered the short distance between them and wrapped both her arms around his right one, avoiding the cuirass and pauldron covering his chest and left side. With one small hand gripping his fur from back behind his shoulder, she let out a rough breath against his sleeve, still frustrated, still tired. He didn't mind that the water in her clothes spread into his, but blocked out the movements of her body against him; it was too distracting to feel her.

Lowering his head just a little, Sesshoumaru avoided moving beyond that, not discouraging Kagura from burying her face in his fur, but not encouraging any further contact either. She said she felt unclean, and he would find out why.

Closing his eyes, the Demon Lord parted his lips just a little and breathed in. She had been standing under running water and he had sensed nothing wrong with her scent, but now they were much closer and he was _looking_ for whatever might have been out of place. Still, it took a moment, and he noticed that his arm wasn't growing warm in her embrace: she had been standing under the falls for a long time before he arrived. Then he found it.

If he had not looked for it, then the spark of heat and sting of salt would never have reached him through her scent. His golden eyes slid open a little, but he wasn't seeing anything, focusing solely on what his senses of smell and taste were telling him, Sesshoumaru calling on his demonic blood to help the process along. Heat and smoke, and... lust. Demonic, masculine, lust. And it wasn't his. This was the scent of someone _else_ that had touched something that was _his_. Some _male_ lusting after _his _mate, some _male_ that had _touched his wife_.

"Who?" He didn't notice his right hand had moved until Kagura made a grunt and Sesshoumaru's claws refused to puncture the thick green and white silks wrapped around her hip. Charcoal, that was another facet of the scent, but it was too generic all together, too easily lost in the wastes that had become of the Western Lands. He would never track down salt, coal and heat in a land that was smoking and on _fire_. "_Who?_"

"Sessho-" His left hand was up and clutching her damp hair in a fist, pulling her head to the side and forcing them both to turn roughly. He walked her backwards until Kagura's back ran up against the stone cliff, growling as he saw her face twisting angrily at the forceful hold and pain. Sesshoumaru pressed his chest against her until he felt her squirm, aware that the spikes on his armour couldn't pierce her enchanted gowns. But like his claws and poisons, it didn't matter if he harmed the garments: she could still _feel_ his armour gouging into her ribs, and there would be marks on her skin now: bruises. Warnings.

"Tell me who he is, woman." The words came from a deep pit in his chest, Sesshoumaru's crimson eyes open but blind with rage. He avoided burning her hair with the acid that wanted to leak out of his claws, but kept his grip tight on her scalp, pulling her neck taught as he let his lips and fangs graze the offensive skin as he spoke. "_Protect him, Kagura, and I swear I'll kill you both._"

"_Protect _him?" Her voice was strangled and betrayed pain, one of her arms wedged between them trying to remove the spikes from where they'd been driven into her ribs. "Stupid dog, he-" Stupid? _Stupid?_ How dare she insult him now when her very life was- "-Lord of the Western Lands!"

"_What?_" Relenting in his assault just enough so she stopped kicking her legs, he focused his stained gaze on her as Kagura took a gasping breath. When she opened her eyes she was angry, frustrated, and proud. Proud enough that her words dripped malice once she gathered enough of herself to actually speak, still pushing against his chest with one hand, the other braced on the cold, slimy rocks behind her.

"_Ryokijin_ calls himself by your title now." The Phoenix Lord? The one who- "I didn't know who he was, _idiot_, just some garish bird with good manners." Sesshoumaru released her hair, listening to her speak and urging himself not to hurt her. Kagura helped control his more violent urges, reaching up with both hands and stroking his jaw; not afraid of his fangs or snarling upper lip, and pulling his face down until his nose was touching the offended side of her neck. "He's convinced my mate is cruel and unworthy, and tried to make me stay with him. For a demon, he has a soft heart." And yet despite that softness, he had dared to reach out and touch the wife of a rival.

"_You are mine._" His instincts had been riled up now, heat pulsing through his veins as his mind played out, act by act, how best to abolish any lingering traces of scent on her skin. "_The west is mine, you are mine, and I-"_ He would not share. She was his and Sesshoumaru would not tolerate another male's _hands_, or his_ eyes_, or even his _thoughts_ touching, toying, or imagining her in any way. It was intolerable, and until he could destroy the threat he would-

But he... He had said no. He had forbidden such things: he could not take her until he had made enough substantial gains to warrant such freedoms. This was _incentive_ for him to do more and do it faster.

Without wanting to, his desperate mind ripped and tore itself away from Kagura's flushed skin and her encouraging pull on his fur. How long was this going to take? How many weeks? How many days? He did not know where Ryokijin was and Sesshoumaru could not track him across the burned lands. He needed the Nintoujou, but the staff required Jaken, and to deal with Jaken Sesshoumaru needed the Tenseiga. And Tenseiga needed two more days.

"Sesshoumaru." And in the meantime his mate was here, now, holding on to him, telling him to do_ something_ about the scent clinging to her skin. She wanted him to do _anything_ that would remove the stench she couldn't wash off with water. "_You-!"_

Kagura's voice didn't break his focus so much as her head snapping up and knocking his face away from her neck. The contact didn't hurt any more than the slap across his wrist to remove his hand from her hip, or the two-handed shove that came after both and gave her room to pull away from him and storm off a few feet. Kagura didn't go further than that however, and as Sesshoumaru stared after her the wind witch spun around and pointed her closed fan at him.

"_You_ don't get to punish _me_ and then get all conflicted inside!" She snapped. "_You're_ the bastard who marked me and _you're_ the one who decided four days later to start playing ascetic!"

"So this is my fault then?" Sesshoumaru's lip had curled up high enough at her outburst to almost start snarling again, but he reigned it in and chose to speak clearly instead.

"Well it's not mine!" Kagura's voice was still shouting, but he heard a low moan weave itself into the words, and he felt his marks suddenly grow cool over his body. It just occurred to him now that the tinted skin had felt hot and inflamed, feeding his anger and frustration with her: it wasn't instinct, it was her.

In fact, the more the marks calmed the more he felt his _real_ instincts speak to him, the ones that wanted this anger to go towards tracking down and destroying the phoenix. The instincts that wanted to _protect _his wronged mate, not attack her. Exactly how much of an effect did she have over him? Had her temper been the force behind their last fight as well? The conversation was a blur, but his anger had burned unnaturally high towards her.

"How did he approach you?" Before speaking he decided to use the Pheonix Lord's name, then found the form of it disgusting, opting for the pronoun instead. Kagura had wrapped her arms around herself again, her red eyes watching the waterfall until Sesshoumaru intentionally stepped into her line of sight .

His nose immediately caught the reason for her interest in the water, and it confused him. Lust? Why was she aroused? But it had been building under the liquid barrier hidden in her clothes, he could only smell it now because she was starting to dry off. Was this caused by his possessive reaction, or- no. He would not consider an alternative.

"He attacked me." And? "What do you think? I fought back. I was going to leave when he reappeared and wanted to talk." So they had conversed. "Not for long, it was a strange conversation; he flattered me and when he went too far I brushed him off. He followed me." Had she given her name? "Of course not, but I told him who _you_ were..."

Sesshoumaru monitored her scent closely as her voice trailed off, Kagura's face going dark as she stared at nothing with blank eyes. Her arousal was persistent, stronger? But she glanced at him briefly just as the tantalizing scent began to rise, so he wasn't sure.

"He treated it like a joke and grabbed me, but he looked surprised when I attacked him." She sounded confused, her scent was conflicted and her voice was soft. Kagura's hands were pulling her tangled hair around in one solid bunch now, her comb reappearing from wherever she had hidden it and drawing the demon-bone teeth through the black strands. Her motions were methodical and slow, fingers pulling apart knots and ties so the comb's bristles were never stressed. She took care with winding her hair up behind her head, careful with the ornament as she nestled it into her twisted bun.

"Why are you like this?" He released the question and Kagura looked up at him properly, not understanding him. Very well, so he added: "There have been weeks at a time where I have not touched you, what makes this so intolerable now?" In the months that had passed in their journey east they had not starved or denied themselves of one another, but he could easily recall long stretches where they lived without possessing one another. There was no reason for this to be so hard for her now, newly mated or not.

The woman took a few moments to continue watching him. Kagura was either formulating an answer or still mulling over the question, he wasn't sure, but he watched her chew one red lip cautiously as he waited. Was that a habit of hers?

"It's not me." Kagura answered, her voice sounding more calm and natural now than it had since he arrived. She had one hand up and rubbing her chest slowly. "It's definitely not me, Sesshoumaru. It's you, it's these damn marks you put on me." _What?_

Kagura didn't explain, just drew her fan carefully and opened the damp weapon smoothly between her fingers. She fanned herself twice under her chin, testing the green silk, then flipped her wrist several times skillfully, forming a small sphere of air and red flower petals. With a smooth gesture the soft bundle was sent towards him, and the Demon Lord felt his mate's warm scent and presence wash over him. There was just enough arousal in the air to blot out the too-faint traces of the phoenix, and more than enough Kagura to make him breathe in a little deeper than usual.

He allowed himself to enjoy it for a moment, then firmly stomped down on the sensations, ignoring the tug and pull of old memories and the silent promise of new ones in the future. He crushed the urge, cooled his blood, rejected the weakness inside of him... Then watched Kagura bite her lip again and curl her fingers over her chest, rubbing her marks below the thick cloth.

"You don't look or act any different." She sounded breathless and yet tense at the same time, a sound in the back of her throat muddling the words and catching his ear like a hook. Kagura put away her fan and walked up to him, wary for a moment just before she touched him. His woman wrapped her arms around his right again like before, her body warm now and holding him possessively. The implications were difficult to ignore. "But I can _feel_ the changes inside."

Her voice moved from breathless to husky, Sesshoumaru taking in her changing, twisting scent as he lowered his head a little. The Demon Lord allowed his face to touch the top of her head because he wanted to do it, and he had harmed her. Just for a moment, they deserved peace. And in that moment he was allowed to move his right arm enough that his hand was resting over her waist again, holding the place where he had bruised her with his claws. Sesshoumaru brought his left hand up and rested it against her shoulder, not pulling Kagura to him, but when she moved closer his touch followed. He could comfort his mate because it was what he wanted to do.

There were words on his lips, and he almost spoke them, but then made himself swallow them instead. No vows, no pledges, he was above such grandstanding and performance. He did not have to tell Kagura that he would kill the phoenix, and it was not necessary for him to re-state that she belonged to _him_ or that he would not share her. He would not _tell_ his wife that he loved her.

The several long, relaxing minutes of their almost-embrace ended slowly, and Sesshoumaru found himself ignorant of the time and jarred when he felt Kagura lift her head off his shoulder. The moment of comfort was over.

"Where's Jaken...?" She mumbled the words slowly and looked around once, finally noticing that the servant he had said he would collect wasn't anywhere near them. The Demon Lord had to stop himself from simply pulling her back against him, opening his eyes and lifting his head up away from hers. He had to wake up now, and banish the sensations of hunger and fatigue that had begun to creep up on him. There was no time for such things, he was above them.

"I require Tenseiga before I can properly remove Jaken from the village." Kagura looked twice as tired as he physically felt, and the effect of her sunken eyes and pale skin was stronger than he'd expected. The temptation to pull her into his arms and just find someplace quiet and covered to sleep was sweet, but forbidden. If only the restriction didn't make it sound all the more appealing...

"What will you do for two days..?" There was nothing hidden behind her words, Kagura was too tired to toy with him. Sesshoumaru closed his eyes slowly as he considered his response, opening them again when his mate gripped his shoulders and shook him roughly. "Don't fall asleep, damn you." Her voice was tired, irritable. "I'm not enduring abstinence and starvation_ and_ insomnia just so you can take a nap." Wait...

"I never told you to..." He didn't finish the words, not because she interrupted him, but he just didn't finish.

"I'm your wife." Did this explain her out-burst yesterday? Sesshoumaru doubted it: this was the first he'd seen of her being tired. Kagura was usually prone to complaint before actual suffering. "You think I'm just going to fall asleep in front of you when you're tired, or eat something when I know you're hungry?" He hadn't thought of it, actually. "Fool..." _Him? _The rebuttal formed behind his teeth, but at the last moment Sesshoumaru rejected the comment. He wasn't willing to fight her again, not now that he knew why she was so irritable.

"In the future, Kagura," She was standing far enough away from him now that Sesshoumaru could reach out and tilt her chin up with two fingers. Her arms were folded crossly under her chest, jaw set and lips pursed like she was going to start pouting, but she looked at him and held in the childish lip. "When I am tired and hungry, I would prefer to have a mate who is not grumpy and thin." This was why he had left her on the mountain for five days while he went off to hunt down that phoenix.

"I'm not thin." She whined, but it only proved his point about her temper. Kagura's red eyes closed slowly as he stepped up to her though, sighing heavily. "Fine..."

"I will go north and learn what I can of my mother's actions, then return when Tenseiga is finished." That would give her two days. He touched the bridge of his nose to her forehead, feeling her lean against him, Kagura's hands slid up to hold onto his shoulders again. "I expect you to take better care of yourself until I come back."

"I shouldn't ruin _your_ mate, should I?" No, she shouldn't, but despite himself Sesshoumaru felt a tug on his lips that almost turned into a smile. He controlled the reaction. "What about our feathered friend?"

"Either stay near the mountain or close to Inuyasha's village. Or follow the wind; you're most difficult to catch that way." She smiled up at him, still sleepy as his face pulled away from hers, but in a much better mood than the one he'd found her in.

"Two days, don't delay."

"Two days." Sesshoumaru pulled away from her, and left.

* * *

><p><strong>Next update: Saturday! And it's that gorram seventh chapter to boot.<strong>

**Read and Review!**


	7. I: Considerations

**Tomorrow, This I Promise You, Naked.**

**Yeah, just... screw this. This and next chapter were tricky to get right, and I just wasn't satisfied when I tried fixing them. What we have is a minor timeline discrepancy since the experiences Kagura and Sesshoumaru go through over the prescribed two days are completely different from one another, and any attempts I made to layer those scenes over one another just came out messy and irritating.**

**I could not write Sesshoumaru's meeting with Inukimi. I could not do it. I _tried_, but it refused to work, and I'm not going to derail my entire story just because chapters 7 and 8 didn't come together properly. I'm still going to TRY by tomorrow to get chapter 8 to work out properly, but I'm not putting much into it. If I fail, I'll just revert to the previous draft and post that instead. It's an over-dose of Kagura, but bleh, not worth delaying updates.**

**So here we go!**

* * *

><p><em><strong>To Make Things Right<strong>_

Considerations

Two days wasn't enough time to do much, but after her mate left Kagura found herself willing, or at least able, to take his advice and get some rest. It irritated her a little that she was the one who was still expected to eat and sleep while he played his self-sacrificing little game, but then she changed her mind. After Kagura woke up from her afternoon nap and found she'd slept clean through the night, and that she was _still_ groggy, the sorceress clued in on something more important.

Whatever Sesshoumaru was refusing to feel was bleeding through their marks into her, so now it made sense why she was _so_ hungry when she hadn't been expending very much energy. And why she was _so _distracted by him whenever he stood near her, when usually the attraction was present, but manageable, even ignorable when she simply didn't want to deal with his stuffy pride. The bastard was using her as a reserve.

And unfortunately, once she woke up from her _'nap' _Kagura noticed something else that disturbed her. She could deal with the effects of being mated, it was tolerable to her, if unwanted. But when she opened her eyes in the small floral grove where she'd fallen asleep the night before, Kagura didn't feel at ease.

Spread out on the grass next to her was a kimono. Her hand had touched it as she slept and once she was awake the wind witch jerked her fingers away from the smooth red silk. It wasn't the most extravagant garment, but it was rich and beautiful just the same. The outer layer, the shortest one by a few inches, was a deep cherry red, almost mauve, with gold cranes walking along the bottom. The obi was orange with small green reeds patterned into it, matching the bird motif, and under that, at least what she could see without touching the fabric, were layers of orange, blue, and a final, inner layer of black.

She left the gift laying in the grass, refusing to fly away in case it made her look afraid, and walking off slowly through the trees. Kagura just tried to put the entire thing from her mind; warm colours like that were not Sesshoumaru's taste, and he didn't have the time or reason to find her gowns as elaborate as that.

Trying to move ahead, Kagura addressed her hunger as a way of avoiding those unpleasant thoughts. She found sweet fruits and other natural delicacies to make herself a tidy meal as she passed through several different glades, and she felt much better for it.

There had been citrus in Greece, but it just hadn't tasted the same to her, and Kagura also savoured the white peaches she found as the morning wore on into afternoon. She wasn't a carnivore like her husband: raw meat simply didn't tempt her, and having it seasoned and cooked still left her lack-lustre. But Sesshoumaru was also feeding on her, the selfish, ungrateful mutt, so when the sorceress wandered past a pair of demon brothers selling some sort of seasoned and skewered she-didn't-want-to-know-what, she felt compelled to try it.

Of course, without Sesshoumaru to stand there and growl she couldn't just _take_ the food. These weren't even his lands anyways: they were Inuyashas's. In exchange for the greasy, sizzling meat Kagura had to charm a long feather one brother was carrying, encouraging it to catch and blow cool wind as they worked. It was worth two skewers, and she almost gagged trying to scarf the flesh down her throat. But her marks burned and a crimson tint crawled across her vision, encouraging her to finish the gross meal and give her whiny mate something to sustain himself with. It took another visit to the fruit grove to get the vile taste out of her mouth, but she managed it.

Inuyasha's lands weren't as impressive as Kagura might have expected, and after crossing the boundary once by accident on her feather the sorceress descended and chose to walk on foot instead. She wouldn't have heeded Sesshoumaru's warning about staying someplace protected if she hadn't caught the distinct scent and sense of heat and ash on the wind as soon as she crossed over the wrong stretch of forest. The Phoenix had been a bad experience, one she wasn't keen on repeating. They weren't affections she wanted to encourage.

Her diligence was rewarded with something far more precious than a chance to cross wits with Ryokijin: she found a grave instead.

Grave was a poor word for it, actually. No one was buried under the pile of rocks Kagura found as she walked along a small cliff-side overlooking a dry gully. And it was just that: a pile of rocks. The only thing that caught her attention was the round silver disc resting on top. She immediately jumped down into the ravine when she saw it, a breath of wind curling around her bare ankles as she cleared the larger rocks and boulders, slowly walking up to the pitiful monument. The rocks had collected dirt and sand between them, bits of wild grass and weeds sprouting from the cracks, but that silver...

_'...Kanna?'_ It had been so long since she'd seen her sister's mirror, but when she saw the broken face and familiar detailing along the outside, Kagura had to stop and stare at what was in front of her. The same sweeping floral design, the same pure white metal; a little dented, a bit tarnished from laying out in the sun and rain.

The demoness was slow to reach out and touch the mirror: how could it be the same one? Kanna had died years ago. Years, and years, and _years..._ The glass was gone, shattered by whatever had killed her- how _had _Kanna died exactly? There had been too many possibilities for Kagura to imagine as she waited on the other side of the world, she had never wanted to think about it for too long at a time.

_'Someone must have been defending the marker, there's no way silver can sit out for so many years undisturbed...'_ Perhaps the nearby villagers had thought it was an ill-omen to come near the sight of a demon's death, but she couldn't be sure. Picking the mirror up, there was a heavy weight to the piece as she held it in one hand. Kanna had always been so possessive of the item, never putting it down, never moving without it. It had been for Kanna what freedom was for Kagura; a piece of herself she couldn't let go of.

It was just a shame that her moment had to be interrupted. The wind witch shut her eyes slowly before words could be spoken: her senses weren't so dull as to ignore the approach. He wasn't supposed to be here.

"Why must you scavenge for beautiful things?" The words were asked in a stern, forceful tone of voice that Kagura wished she didn't recognize. The Phoenix Lord was standing there on the edge of the same cliff she'd jumped down from. His long, wide pants were tinted bright orange while his light outer robe was patterned with bright feathers and red cords. Someone must have thought it looked good on him, but even with his dark skin and pale red hair, Kagura disliked the outfit.

She started to walk, she didn't pay much attention to the direction, she just started and kept going. Kagura wasn't going to get lost, but she refused to just stand there cordially after what he'd done the _last_ time they'd spoken. She hated him for putting that scalding touch on her, and she hated herself for not being able to get rid of it before seeing Sesshoumaru again. Stupid bird!

"You don't like me." He was following her! Go away! "At least tell me why."

"Why _should_ I like you?" Don't talk, stupid woman. But the words left her mouth before she could catch them, so she followed through. To hell with him if he thought she was going to end up flustered. "Because you're garish and annoying?"

"Because I own the Western Lands, and if you were _my_ mate then-"

"Back-up: you don't own _anything._" She snapped, neck stiff as she fought to keep herself from looking back at him. "You've terrorized and _burned_ the Western Lands, don't flatter yourself." Damn her luck for bringing him here, Kagura hadn't left the stupid Half-breed's stupid territory! "And I'd never mate with a pigeon."

Her rebuke bought her a few minutes of silence from him, but Ryokijin was still following her, his footsteps sounding between hers as his sandalled feet crushed the gravel and broken stones as they walked. She wanted the bastard feather duster to leave her alone but he wouldn't oblige her, and if she ran then he'd just give chase again like last time. She'd have to be more careful about where she fell asleep from now on, just waiting for him to bring up the kimono that had _obviously_ come from him.

"Are the rumours true then?" What rumours? And what did she look like, his little gossip girl? "They say the Demon Lord Sesshoumaru has returned from the dead." _Puh!_

"Is that what all the hens are clucking about back in your little coop?" This time she did chance a look back at him, recognizing her mistake as his stern, serious face turned into a knowing smile once he caught her eye. Wretched bird, she went back to watching where she was going. "I'd be interested, maybe, if he had actually died."

"So you're saying he _is_ back then, the previous lord?" Oh, oh what was that? A quiver of fear, perhaps? An ounce of concern? Kagura felt a twisted little smile pull on her lips, giving a soft chuckle from deep in the back of her throat.

"You are _such_ a fool." And she was done saying anything. Her memory wasn't so bad, the gully led down around the side of the mountain, a place that had seen so many demons wage war and fight over the years that it was perpetually barren. Tall spires of rock, some natural, most the result of duelling monsters marred the landscape, the air dry and fast moving. Not even Sesshoumaru would be able to track or catch her here.

Without another word, Kagura pulled herself into the wind, Kanna's mirror in hand, and lost herself in the eddies and currents of air.

* * *

><p>Reforging a sword of quality took time, especially when it was a blade with fully a matured personality. Tenseiga was not what Totosai would have considered a temperamental blade, not compared to its brother Tetseiga or cousin Bakusaiga. But it was powerful and it had a master who now knew how to use it properly. No, Tenseiga was not an irritable, wild sword, but it could be picky when in a bad mood, and spending over a decade frozen and in pieces had done a serious number on the weapon's short-term mood and memory. Its temperament was positively wretched as Totosai worked to repair the damned thing.<p>

Everything about the time and condition of the sword just built up from the problem of how it had been damaged in the first place. Tenseiga had been surprised by its injuries, down-right shocked and terrified by what had so suddenly happened to it. Being sealed right away after the fact had only terrorized it more, nevermind the fact that it had _remained _broken for all the months it had taken Sesshoumaru to return from where-ever he'd been.

When he worked with the hilt-end of the sword, Totosai had to work hard to console the spurned pride and frustration that came with failing to perform for its master. The hilt lamented being unable to warn Sesshoumaru of the intense danger he had been in, and the blade had been horrified by the disastrous results of that failure. Tenseiga also carried an intense burden of shame over the fact that, even with a divine blessing coupled with its life-manipulating powers, it had failed to cut as commanded.

As for the other half of the blade, it was a hysterical mess. It had spent several years in Kagura's possession before she finally had attempted to reunite the two pieces and sealed the fang's tip in with the Demon Lord, so it had absorbed emotion from what had probably been the hardest time. It gave Totosai a better understanding of how Naraku's incarnation had come to walk amongst the living again, and consoled him as to Sesshoumaru's choice of mate, but without the temperance of the hilt the end was just too miserable to listen to for very long. It took the guilt and shame of the hilt and just compounded it endlessly, speaking of nightmares and screaming and deep, passionate sorrow. Yet it did not occur to the broken fang that perhaps it had been _better_ for Kagura to work through so much negativity before being reunited with the Demon Lord.

So it was a lot of work trying to reconcile the two and a long process trying to meld Sesshoumaru's own fang into the alloy and bond them back together. And the work wasn't made any easier when a certain Demon Lord and his certain mate decided to have a loud, angry, volatile argument just outside his cave.

The semi-repaired Tenseiga became unruly as soon as it sensed Sesshoumaru's approach, but had an absolute fit when the two began to argue and shout at one another. The blade had showered Totosai with a wealth of background and context that the smith could have happily lived without hearing about. He had known Sesshoumaru as a pup, there was no need for the smith to receive an open window into the Demon Lord's private life, let alone with commentary from Tenseiga. But it still took several wry hits from his hammer to beat that understanding into the sword. Don't tell, and don't show either!

_'By tomorrow you should be finished.'_ Stupid blade, but at least after two days of hard work Tenseiga was physically in one piece again, Totosai setting the unfinished sword down flat to cool and rest until it was calm enough to properly fix the cutting edge. He tottered across his little abode and washed his hands and arms off in the same pool of sooty water that he always used, then went back to the slab of rock where he did most of his work and plucked one of the spitted and roasted lizards out of the notches in the stone, dinner!

"Totosai?"

Ooh... not dinner... Looking around as he felt a breath of fresh air enter his dark little cavern, Totosai still had the skewered lizard held in one clawed hand, but he avoided taking a big crunchy bite out of the morsel.

"Eh? Is he impatient enough to go sending his wife to bother me?" It was hard to see too many details about Sesshoumaru's mate as Kagura stood in the cracked entryway of the cave, but her hair was bound up in a high, twisted bun and he could see the topaz drops hanging from her ears as they were cut by the sun. She didn't have a threatening aura as she stepped inside the dim space though, so he wasn't about to panic at the sight of her. She had been born of Naraku, but Totosai chose to believe Tenseiga when it vouched for her free heart. Benefit of the doubt really.

"I'm not here about the sword." Huh, really? "May I sit?" That was polite of her.

"Eh, sure. Go ahead." He watched Kagura brush some dust and soot off a large rock before sitting down, she was carrying a round silver disk in her hand, but didn't hold it out to him or anything as she looked around. Well, if they were going to be civil then there was no sense in him being a bad host. "Food?"

"Oh, please no." Her face twisted and her red eyes looked almost afraid as he held up the charred lizard, the sorceress shaking her head and holding one hand up to defend herself from it. "I've stomached enough meat today, thanks." Ah, that's right: she was a wind demon! Elementals were usually vegetarian.

"Is there something I can do for you since you've come all the way back here?" He hadn't listened to her argument with Sesshoumaru after the shouting had stopped, there was no sense in giving the Demon Lord a reason to kill him. But she was still wearing his mementos: the comb and earrings, so Totosai knew just from that that they hadn't parted too bitterly.

"I had a few questions, actually." As she spoke the woman pulled out a fan of green silk, Totosai's gaze quickly penetrating the cloth and wood to see what it was really made of. Hm, demon-bone cores, a strong bronze pin at the base, some silver detailing... very pretty, but strong too. Good quality. "I didn't want to go into the village looking for answers." Huh? Oh, right.

"Well I'm taking a break for now, so sure, go ahead." What, was he going to throw Sesshoumaru's wife out? Not unless he felt like packing up and running away somewhere. Biting off the head of the lizard he'd offered, the sight of him eating didn't appeal to her, but it was his home so he didn't much care if the lady had to look away and stare at something else as he ate. Dinner!

"How did Sesshoumaru surpass his father?" That was an interesting question! "It's just... I keep hearing that about him, but everyone simply leaves it at that. Is he really already stronger than his father was?" Ehh, that wasn't quite it, and Totosai shrugged as he chewed and swallowed the tiny lizard skull.

"Not exactly." Well it was the truth. "Yes, Bakusaiga is devastatingly strong, and Sesshoumaru is a truly powerful demon, but I'd say he's more even with his father now than actually stronger than him. The Inu no Taishou had over two-thousand years over his son, and that experience has to count for something." The woman seemed to accept this comparison, not interrupting him to argue on her mate's behalf. It wasn't an insult, Sesshoumaru was just young!

"I've also heard that the Great General also had more land than Sesshoumaru." Now it was Totosai's turn to nod, and he chewed on his lizard's front leg as Kagura added: "Like, he had all of Sesshoumaru's mother's territories as well, the northern mountains."

"Indeed. That was a mating agreement, something to keep Sesshoumaru safe while he was growing up." She tilted her head at this, eyebrows raised a little. He smiled around tiny lizard bones and swallowed before continuing. "_Inu-Yokai_ breed very slowly and they take centuries to grow up and reach maturity. His parents were together for just over five hundred years and only had the one son to show for it, so I hope you weren't expecting a large family."

"I wasn't, it's just strange imagining him that young..." There was just a little bit of a smile on her red lips, an expression she kept half-hidden behind her fan as she sat there and stared at nothing for a few moments. "But this means he didn't surpass his father in strength _or_ territory, so how exactly...?"

"It's a state of mind, really." He mumbled, speaking around a mouthful of salty lizard skin. Mmm, crunchy, but he swallowed at Kagura's disgusted expression. "Being a Demon Lord is as much about mental conditioning as it is physical,. The Great General was exceptionally strong, but his heart and mind weren't completely committed to success." She didn't understand him, he could see that by the blank stare she was giving him. Okay, okay, he'd slow it down.

"In order to be a proper Demon Lord, you need a selfish heart, insurmountable pride, and a very short temper. Both Sesshoumaru and his father had these traits, but the Inu no Taishou's heart was, comparatively, too giving."

"I still don't understand..."

"How does Sesshoumaru speak to you?" Totosai watched the woman's jaw go slack, nibbling on his lizard's tail as she failed to answer him, so he provided encouragement. "Does he flatter you? Talk about the future and wax poetically about how much he loves you? Any of that typical newly wed junk?"

"What! No, never." And judging by the ounce of horror in her voice as Kagura crushed the idea, the image of him behaving like that made her nauseous. Which was good, really, and he swallowed the bit of reptile he was chewing before speaking again.

"That's where Sesshoumaru and his father are different. The General was as open as he could be with Sesshoumaru's mother, but on the outside Inukimi was always cold towards him the way her son is. With the mothers of both his sons, there was a definite break between who he was as General, and who he was as husband." Something, maybe Sesshoumaru had been old enough to see and be aware of. Every person had their inner and outer layers, even Demon Lords could afford those, but the Inupapa had been black or white depending on whether he was wearing his armour or not, or who was at hand to see him. "Of course, he was physically strong enough to compensate for this: he could afford to make a pact with Inukimi rather than just go in like any other male and claim her lands as his. He wasn't selfish enough to steal her independence as a Demon Lord, and with Izayoi he couldn't bear to see her lonely; refusing to carry her away from the human palace where he eventually died trying to protect her." Stupid hindsight.

"So you're saying he's more... at peace with himself?" Eh, close enough.

"Don't forget that I haven't seen him in twelve years, Tenseiga's been a complete mess." But Bakusaiga had not. The killing sword had resonated with clarity of mind and purpose, exactly as it had when first created from its master's body. "But Sesshoumaru doesn't carry the same conflicts his father did, he knows what's his." Oh, uh-oh.

Kagura's red eyes went sharp as soon as he made the comment, Totosai pausing in his endless munching as he carefully swallowed the upper torso of his meal. The lizard was almost completely consumed, but talking got in the way of eating- not his fault. He watched the wind witch fold her arms crossly over her green bodice, glaring. What now?

"Him an I are going to have to have a talk about that." About what? Ownership?

"Er..." Not his place.

"_Out with it._" Well if she _insisted_.

"You'd just be arguing with his instincts." Kagura was watching him, Totosai not disturbed by this as he held up the remaining morsels of the skewered lizard. "You see this? Sesshoumaru is a dog demon: this half-eaten thing has no value, but if he had it in his hand you'd have to kill him before you could take it away." Her eyes narrowed on him as he made the example, but she didn't argue with him. She'd probably seen him, at one time or another, grow suddenly possessive over something similarly useless. "Dog demons only think in terms of what is and is not theirs, it's why he had such a difficult time letting go of the Tetseiga." He'd thought she'd have figured this sort of thing out by now, but then it occurred to Totosai that Inuyasha's mixed blood dampened this possessive instinct and made him more compassionate, and aside from the brothers Kagura probably had minimal experience with dog demons. She probably thought Sesshoumaru was just a jerk. She wouldn't be wrong, but at least he came by it honestly.

"Hmph, and what about phoenixes?" Eh? What about phoenixes? Kagura's stern glare had faded, the demoness checking her nails in the dim light as she pretended to be bored. Totosai only guessed it was an act because she waited several moments for him to answer. "Dog demons put value on what they own, what about the fire birds?" Oooh, now he understood the question.

"I don't know if it's a _rule,_ but from what I've heard the Phoenix Clan doesn't care too much about title and ownership." As demonstrated by the devastation of the Western Lands, which was what the smith assumed Kagura was really asking about. Did she really have to be cryptic like her husband? Or was Sesshoumaru the blunt one and Inuyasha the- oh nevermind. Totosai finally finished off his meal as he mulled over the rest of his answer. _"_Most bird demons look at what _others _value and assign worth based off that; they love what a rival simply _likes_, covet what others admire, steal away what someone else wants. They aren't territorial like the great _Inu-yokai_, but I guess the amount of competition in the Western Lands is why they're still trying to take control of it." If Sesshoumaru had never left then there wouldn't have been this great big power vacuum: so many tribes and clans suddenly vying for power must have been an overwhelming temptation.

"Hm... Well, I think I've taken up enough of your time." Sesshoumaru's woman stood up smoothly after opening her fan again, Totosai aware that her face and eyes had gone solemn with thought for a few moments before now. It gave him time to reconsider, yet again, the faith he had in Tenseiga's judgement. This woman had been spawned from Naraku, essentially a daughter of his or a sister or something like that: was she really a safe choice? Sesshoumaru would be fine in body, but- well, if the smith got caught with thoughts like these the Demon Lord would kill him. It was unfortunate that sometimes that was just the way the world worked.

"Tenseiga should be finished some time tomorrow evening." Just because she hadn't come for the sword right now didn't mean the Demon Lord wouldn't appreciate an update anyways. Whatever their argument had been about, he didn't doubt that after this little visit things would be fine- the General and Inukimi had argued all the time about little things, although Izayoi had been comparatively mild... _hmm_...

"Until tomorrow then."

And then the wind was gone.

* * *

><p><strong>That chapter was not fun to finish... Next 1-2 were also a pain in the ass come the editing period before I posted this story.<strong>

**Review it if you found some food for thought!**


	8. I: Another Scar

**With You, Youtube Playlists "Fast Inuyasha" and "Sad Inuyasha", 'cause I'm so original with my playlist names.**

**Yar, Sunny be mad that she didn't get the eighth chapter edited the way she wanted. I was going to have a scene with Sesshoumaru, Rin, and Jaken, but the Demon Lord once again failed me. I got about four pages of the new chapter done and then it made this _horrible_ sound and died.**

**This doesn't actually effect my updates though, since the 16 I keep mentioning is WITHOUT the planned addition in chapter 8. If I'd been able to work it out, then I would have in fact had 17 chapters. Bleh. And because there is SOME good news: I finally finished the 16th chapter, so by tomorrow I may begin working on 17. Woo~**

**Updates away!**

* * *

><p><em><strong>To Make Things Right<strong>_

Another Scar

It was summer, and that meant it was hot out.

Kagura had been disappointed, not surprised, when Sesshoumaru returned from the north and hardly had more than a few words for her. He didn't want her to go with him to Inuyasha's village, and even though she could have easily argued the point or just followed him anyways, the wind witch had relented. Kagura wasn't going to make a habit of appeasing him, but she returned to the falls under Totosai's cave to wait for him anyways.

As usual, his clothing had repaired itself first, but her mate's left arm and shoulder had been red and swollen with poison when he approached her in the wind. There were very few demons with venom powerful enough to effect him, so Kagura didn't doubt that he'd come to blows with his mother. It felt like reason enough to oblige him this time.

She could only handle the stifling heat for so long next to the cool water before she'd given in and climbed into the pool. Totosai would know better than to peep, the old wretch, and Kagura had a sinking suspicion that Sesshoumaru was using her to endure the strong yellow sunshine. Stupid mutt, he was the one who chose to dress like that, he couldn't pile up his difficulties and shove them on her like this. He was the one who'd gone to see his honourable mother too, so his wounds weren't Kagura's responsibility either!

_'Selfish dog...'_ Leaving her clothes in a neat pile within easy reach, Kagura removed her comb and earrings and set them down with her other belongings; her fan and Eurus' rod. The mirror she kept with her though, swimming across the chilled pool with it so she could rest next to the waterfall and keep the burning sun off her skin. She cleaned the demonic silver as well as she could with just her fingers and water, repeatedly filling the recess with the cool liquid and watching it skate down over the edge each time.

Kanna...

Despite the noise, maybe she fell asleep reclining in the cool water with her back against the wet rocks. It would help make sense of why one moment Kagura was looking into the late afternoon light, and the next the world had gone dim and orange on her. She cursed herself as she looked down at her wrinkled fingers, and didn't hesitate to climb out of the pool to get dressed again. Of course, as the sun went down the water went from cool to cold, the demoness quick to pull on her blue underlayer, then the long white gown. She sat down after the snug white silk was wrapped around her arms and torso, rubbing her legs together as she worked her fingers over her arms for warmth, trying to banished some of the chill from her skin. Idiot.

"_Please slow down, m'lord!"_ Drat, she knew that scratchy whine and the desperate pine in the demon's voice. There was almost something comforting about hearing Jaken though: Kagura would have killed him if he'd been there with her on Boreas' mountain, but after so many years... yes, maybe she could tolerate the imp's presence. But not when she was dressed down like this, and in the fading light Kagura was quick about pulling on the stiff green bodice of her gown, looping and tying the several yards of her black sash around her waist before restoring her fan, rod, and mirror to their places. Hm, maybe she'd get Jaken to start carrying things for her, her sash was not a charm belt.

She found the familiar round drops of her earrings and slid them in place, but with her eyes watching the treeline where she'd heard Jaken's voice, Kagura had to grope for a moment before her fingers found the teeth of her comb. Closing her eyes as she twisted the long black lengths of her hair between her hands, this was always easiest to do when the strands were wet, and she settled the heavy comb into the twisted bun to keep it in place. The final rays of the sun were focused on the back of her head as she finished with her feathers and saw a silver shine moving through the underbrush.

"_Is she here, m'lord?"_ Ah, so Sesshoumaru had told his servant about her? Kagura smirked a little as she pulled her fan out gingerly, spreading it just as she saw her mate's gold eyes appear. His stoic expression remained unaltered as he noticed her and changed direction enough to make it clear he was coming. Jaken was still hidden under the ferns and bushes of the forest, but she could see the top of that ugly staff of his bobbing up and down behind the Demon Lord.

Kagura barely got a look at the green-skinned toad and his bulbous yellow eyes before he saw her, and reacted.

"_AAAH! M'lord it's the evil sorceress Kagura!"_ Thank you, Jaken. _"The spawn of Naraku who died almost twenty years ago- back from the dead? Is she here for revenge! ?"_ Not quite, but it was still entertaining watching the tiny demon dive heroically _behind_ the Demon Lord as he shrieked his accusations. "_And what of M'lord's mate! ? Has this witch done something to-_"

"Jaken." The vizier was snapped from his commentary by the cold sound of the Demon Lord's voice, mumbling a frail _'Yes, sir?'_ as Sesshomaru stopped walking. "Be silent." If he hadn't been behind and positioned in such a way that would make kicking him awkward, Kagura wouldn't have been surprised to see the toad go flying. He didn't clue in though, the poor thing.

"Your arm looks better." She commented, purposefully ignoring the servant's outburst. Sesshoumaru was holding himself straighter as well, but didn't react to her words. The difference from before was almost non-existent, but Kagura had seen the Demon Lord at his absolute worst. She could tell the difference between when he was standing straight on his own, and when he was doing it because he had to. Kagura walked up to the pair, but didn't touch her mate as she approached, the two of them standing much closer to one another than a surprise encounter would warrant, but she found the proximity comfortable.

His eyes only changed enough for her to know they were reacting to the changing light, the last of the sun vanishing as the world went blue and indigo. He could be so stoic when he wanted to be, his eyes ignoring everything but her face as she heard him take a slightly deeper breath than normal. It was hard for her to see much else after that, only a bit of heat resting behind her head where the daylight had been. The next few minutes would be the darkest time of night: the gap between sunset and moon-rise.

That was why she heard the slow, lumbering footsteps of something _else_ that had been following the Demon Lord. Kagura breezed past Sesshoumaru as Jaken gaped and made some sort of gagging whimper in his narrow throat. She was more interested in the dragon though, and tilted her head curiously as she saw the beast form from the darkness.

"And this would be... Un, correct?" Not Ah-Un, that had been the name of both dragons together in one body. It surprised her now to see the muzzled beast missing half of its body, the overlapping brown-green scales were smooth and without blemish, no signs of illness or rot to be found. Four legs, a long tail, but with no saddle or harnesses beyond the muzzle and torn reigns still strapped to its head. There was, however, one long pink line in the dragon's underbelly, and even in the night she could see where the colour of the scales changed ever so much at the base of Un's neck. "Revived by Tenseiga, so what about...?"

"Ah had been dead too long." She looked over her shoulder and found Sesshoumaru staring at her as he spoke. Not looking or watching, but staring boldly with both eyes a little wider than they should have been. Jaken had a lump on his head and was nursing it with a whimper, but now Kagura was even more curious: had the imp _actually_ come up with something that had shocked or surprised his master? She found the idea laughable.

"...What are you staring at?" But his eyes didn't hold appreciation or lust, the topaz pair were just staring at her like he was in shock. She could see it more clearly as the half-moon began to rise in the east. It was not definitely not awe: he was shocked by something. "Sesshoumaru?" What was wrong with her hair? That's what he was looking at.

Un pulled away from her suddenly, and the split second she needed to look between the dragon and its master was enough for her mate's golden eyes to fill with hate and anger. She'd have jumped back if he'd actually made to touch her, but instead Kagura just found herself standing almost chest-to-chest with Sesshoumaru as the Demon Lord phased in front of her, growling violently.

"_Take it out._" Huh?

"What's the matter with you?" She challenged boldly, shutting her fan as she placed her hands down on her hips, irritated. He was even going to act like this in front of his little servant?

"_Take it out **now**_**.**" She had _no idea_ what he was talking about, and even when she thought she did Kagura quickly crushed it to focus on something else: they were not going to have this discussion in front of Jaken. Sesshoumaru was not going to break form and act out in front of the miserable little toad, because if he did then when he calmed down he would blame the outburst on her, and Kagura was sick of carrying the blame. He was even forcing his anger and frustration into her now, she could feel it prickling her marks and causing her skin to itch and burn fiercely.

"You stay," Kagura didn't look at Jaken, just pointed her closed fan at the stunned toad where he was staring at them dumbfoundedly. "-_you_ follow." And before the bastard mutt she'd mated with could snarl at her again, Kagura pulled herself into the wind.

The moment she did it she understood what had made him so mad, found the source of the surging jealousy and possessive rage. There was always a breath of heat in her wind when she flew now: Eurus' rod was a mixture of wind and fire, when it was made into nothing so it could travel with her it always carried a signature of heat through the air. But now that heat was stronger, and it wasn't just coming from the rod. Sesshoumaru had hesitated because he hadn't been able to see her hair properly without the moon, but now that she felt it Kagura wanted to just scream in fury.

She'd done exactly what he wanted, she'd stayed in Inuyasha's tiny, pitiful stretch of influence and not left it like she'd so desperately wanted to. Ryokijin had come to _her_, not the other way around, and she had needed hours to get away from him for sure. Sesshoumaru wasn't allowed to punish her for that, not again, and he wasn't allowed to yell and growl and snarl at her for falling asleep _in his brother's territory_. He'd told her to sleep! He'd told her to rest because he was too damn proud to take care of himself- he didn't even know how these damn marks worked, did he? Sesshoumaru had no idea what it meant to take a wife, or to _be_ a husband- he was still acting like some self-denying bachelor!

"_Why_. Why would you _take a mate_-" Kagura flew steadily until she felt herself finally cross out of Inuyasha's meagre influence, flying over the forest that looked no different but which bordered too closely on the charred Western Lands to feel safe. She found a clear hill and dropped out of the sky, aware of the Demon Lord following her, and still furious as she peeled her body out of the air. "-if you aren't even strong enough to have one!"

Sesshoumaru hadn't even touched his feet to the grass when Kagura reached up and tore the comb out of her hair, finally removing that unpleasant heat from the back of her head. She didn't look at it as she faced him, just let her eyes glow in the night as her hair was left to fall and hang weakly in the remains of her bun. The wind was obliging her by not spreading the black lengths out just yet, but she felt the horrible little trinket in her hand heating up as if it sensed her anger- the anger she was sharing with the crimson-eyed dog in front of her.

It looked _like _her comb, the teeth were long and narrow, the spine short and curved, but aside from the shape everything was wrong. Instead of a nest of topaz gems there was a great red stone, round and polished- a ruby? A garnet? Kagura didn't know her gems well enough to tell the difference. There was no white silk flower cradling the stone either, but gold wire she hadn't felt in her hurry to fix her hair. She hadn't seen the difference because she hadn't looked at it, but the comb in her hand was black, like ebony, not the ivory bone of her _real_ gift.

"I am capable-"

"_Bullshit!_" Pulling her arm back Kagura flung the phoenix's gift at her mate, letting the air catch and shoot the trinket at him. There was satisfaction when his white aura caught the piece before its stone head could collide with the blue crescent moon staining his skin. She watched his energy splinter the comb into tiny pieces, carrying it around him before the gold and ebony vanished from sight and settled on the grass.

If not for the display and his crimson eyes Kagura could have pretended her bastard mate was calm and unperturbed. But his thin lips were taught, even if he wouldn't move them save to speak, and his long silver hair was moving despite there being no wind yet; the element still respecting her demand for a sense of calm. Sesshoumaru was hardly breathing, and if Kagura so much as felt the atmosphere shift to send them a breeze she'd fly off the handle at him, she was so mad. And it wasn't just her anger either: through the burning in her marks she could feel a deadly cold from him, and that just made her even more furious.

"If _you_ were strong enough to have a mate, Sesshoumaru, then _I _would not have to deal with a suitor who shows up every time your back is turned!" Or every time her eyes were closed. "If _you_ were strong enough to have a mate then _he_ would be dead!" But that hadn't been his reaction two days ago: there was a strange bird harassing _his wife_ and the great and powerful Demon Lord ran off to see his_ mother!_ Kagura was almost glad the bitch had attacked him!

"Watch your tongue, woman." His words were barely present as he spoke to her, the sound ragged like they were fighting to get past his elongated teeth.

"_No._" She answered bluntly. "I've changed enough for you, you ungrateful mutt! You think you can just blame me every time things don't go your way?" His lands, his pacts, his rival- had that tenderness after his _last_ outburst been some sort of act? Violent and dangerous and possessive- fine! But she had nothing to do with what was making him angry! He didn't get to put this on her for no reason!

"I can." No, he could not! "Because you _are_ to blame." What- _how dare he!_

"You bastard!" Kagura heard thunder just before she shouted back at him, watching the turquoise in his eyes watch her closely as the sky overhead clouded over slowly. There was nothing demonic in the wind that picked up until it actually reached her, Kagura's temper soaring and pulling the tense air up until it was blowing around her hard enough to begin lifting her bare feet up off the trampled grass.

"I've never once forced your hand in anything- and the only time I tried you flat out denied me until it was too late!" To kill Naraku, that was the only thing she'd ever, truly, asked of him. It was the only thing she'd begged for, longed for, lamented: that, and for him to wake up from that ice-bound coma.

"It is because of you that I find myself in this miserable situation, with nothing." _Nothing_, that was what she counted for then? She was just more _nothing_ for him to grow bitter about? "You will bear the responsibility, because it is yours." Kagura could feel her own aura rising strongly enough through the wind that the grass between them was glowing red, the air disturbed just enough by his own temper that she could feel and _see_ their demonic auras clashing and beginning to push against one another.

He wanted to blame her? He wanted to make the Western Lands her fault? So did he want to blame her for that scratch from mommy dearest too? And going back, further, it was her fault he'd been humiliated by the western hunting goddess and almost made into one of her fawning pets? She was to blame for his wretched state when he'd broken free of Boreas' ice? And it was her fault he'd taken twelve years to escape of course, she'd been the one to break Tenseiga too. And how dare she, how _dare_ Kagura go to him and ask, so sweetly, for the Demon Lord to even _consider_ going west in the first place to challenge the god of the North Wind.

"_You..._" She could hear the air screaming as she pried the word off her own lips. She could feel the winds, hers and his fighting over nothing more than presence within this little field: but it was really so much more than that. All the slips and cuts of one will against the other, a noise like wailing metal pieces grinding over one another. Proud, selfish, disgusting animal- "-I've wasted all these years, on _you!"_ A _mistake._

All Kagura did was look up, that was all it was and the wind reacted. She let her foot touch the ground one more time as she leapt backwards, watching him quickly respond by launching himself forward. She let go of the power building between them: a single blade of wind guided by her eyes and the twist of her body seared straight through the chaotic point where their energy met. A terrible sound burst through the air before the wind scar tore open and Kagura's _false_ mate found himself awash in the golden light- had he ignorantly believed the technique could only come from his father's pathetic fang?

She saw Tenseiga's barrier a moment before a fully enraged Sesshoumaru broke through the aftermath of the wind's attack, teeth bared and claws out as he came down on her with liquid poison flying back off his hand. Kagura sucked herself into the wind and split past his claws, reforming behind him and sweeping her hand through the air so her fan could catch a strong gust; condensing it down into a sharp, humming edge of air by the time the Demon Lord turned to receive the blow across his eyes.

It should have blinded him, Kagura _wished_ it had blinded him, but blood came from the bridge of his nose and his eyes themselves were merely held shut, bludgeoned but otherwise fine. She found her hair in the way now, leaping back with her fan held tensely between her fingers as he slashed the air with that electric green whip. A deep welt opened up in her gown and thigh underneath as the toxic lash struck her, the fabric swiftly mending although her leg wasn't so quick to recover. Landing on her right foot, Kagura found herself stowing her fan before she understood her own instincts and drew the rod from her side.

Eurus' rod wasn't long enough to use as a melee weapon. It was made of sun-bleached wood and banded several times with gold, the metal rings worn down so far that it was almost impossible to tell the difference in texture between the two materials. One end of the slim weapon was blackened, and as Kagura flipped the short thing over her fingers, the enchantments flared to life just as Sesshoumaru touched down in front of her.

The light from the torch's flames almost blinded her, the force of them sending Kagura back as the heat was enough to burn her face- and the blast was focused _away_ from her. Regaining her footing and balance, a demonic roar told her she'd succeeded in striking the hound in front of her. Kagura bent her body, twisting her waist and pulling her arms around fluidly as she twirled the heavy stream of incinerating fire around herself. It was close enough to burn, but wouldn't: not through her clothes, and not with her winds woven through the heat to protect her.

When Sesshoumaru struck through the fire with his fist she had to take the blow, feeling her ribs compress for an instant before shattering, she didn't know how many. Her body flew back on her winds as she funnelled the fire directly into him, this time concentrating on his skin as the stink of blood and burn reached her.

The fire had to dissipate after that, a single flame remaining positioned at the end of the rod as it rested for a moment. The venom in his whip was keeping her leg from stitching itself back together, but as the darkness peeled away from her adjusting eyes, she could see Sesshoumaru where he had stopped advancing. He was holding his seared right arm in front of him, his eyes still tainted crimson and turquoise and his chest still rumbling with hate as he tentatively moved his fingers. Kagura could see the blood oozing down his arm, the muscles in her leg twitching from the deep wound. She was bleeding too much: had he struck the artery?

"_Sesshoumaru!_" Who-? Kagura didn't mean to pull her eyes away from the enraged and injured demon in front of her, but when she did and he leapt at her on the attack again she didn't have a counter. The brilliant gold light of another wind-scar, this one several times stronger than the one Kagura had instinctively released, cut between them and stopped him instead. When the glare from the attack faded, she saw the Half-breed running towards them both, his over-sized sword out and catching the flash from the distant lightning far over head.

"Y_ou bastard, Sesshoumaru!_" How dare Inuyasha interfere with this, if Kagura hadn't begun to feel a slow weakness creeping into her arms, she'd have attacked him herself. "You think I'd just let you run away? _Coward!_" Coward? She wanted to be angry, to shout and be annoyed, but when she took the first deep breath to say something Kagura felt the splitting pain in her chest: too many broken bones. He'd struck her hard.

"Inuyasha, this does not concern you." A glance at the older demon told her more than she'd expected; not only was his arm almost black with burns, but his armour was cracked as well. On the outside, maybe he looked worse off than she did, but she still couldn't move her hand from where it was pressed against her chest. She could _feel_ the mis-placed ribs...

"Rin is dying! That concerns me!" What? Kagura could only stare, the pain in her leg was only getting worse, the sting and itch that came after the slice developing into a deep burn that was spreading up and down her leg. He'd really poisoned her? She felt her unharmed leg buckle, the pain in her chest flaring as her torso twisted and bent to try keeping her balance. These wounds felt serious. "And now I follow you here-" Kagura looked up when she saw something move in front of her and she found Inuyasha's back facing her, Tetseiga raised and held up against Sesshoumaru. "-to your crying and wounded wife! What the hell is wrong with you! ?"

"I'm not-" Not what? Not crying, or not his mate? She didn't know where the question came from but Kagura's throat went tight anyways, strangling whatever she'd been about to say. She could feel her hair loose and sticking to her face, a few wild strands caught between her lips as she reached up to pull them away, the rest were stuck in... tears? Where had those come from?

"This has nothing to do with you, stay out of my business."

"I can smell Rin's blood all over you, you bastard!" It was starting to rain, another flash of lightning showed her just Inuyasha's back and his silver hair, Sesshoumaru's form blocked from her sight. "She was the one you killed Naraku for- the reason you were in that battle at all! And you just cut Rin down for no reason! ?"

"_Silence."_

"...What?" Kagura hadn't meant to speak, the word just... fell out. The reason Sesshoumaru killed Naraku- the life he'd fought for? He'd never told Kagura it was for her, he'd described the battle, and Rin had been drawn into things, yes, but he'd never said why, exactly, he had been present. He had gone to kill Magatsuhi, the spirit that had damaged his pride, and then he had slain her creator... For Rin?

"_Keep your fucking distance! _She's bleeding enough, damn it!" Rin, he'd done it for Rin. Rin, the little human girl who had been his weakness, the one Naraku had sent her to exploit that very first time. Rin who he'd protected and taken with him everywhere.

_'The first thing he asked me... was how many years.'_ It had been the very first thing, after twelve years of waiting, that Sesshoumaru had actually said to her. He'd woken up and she had spoken, but the first thing Sesshoumaru himself had asked was about how long he had been asleep... when she'd already told him it was less than a hundred. The first thing he'd wanted to know... had been about Rin.

Not Kagura.

"She could be your mom for all I care- if you wanna fight me with just your left arm then go for it!" She couldn't hear Sesshoumaru's answer, it was raining too much, he wasn't speaking clearly enough. "Kagura." Inuyasha's voice was suddenly much lower, but she could still hear him as the wind picked up, the storm had been distant, now it was almost over head. "Just hang on, once he leaves I'll take you back to the village for some help." Help? From him? She...

"No." Kagura tilted her head back slowly, her red eyes gazing up at the sky, the clouds rolling black and violet overhead. It was a real storm... "I don't need... him..."

Kagura's heavy, blood-stained limbs went light, and the wind-witch melded into the sky.

* * *

><p><strong>That... was completely not how this chapter was planned to go, but I realized by the time I was almost done that I've been strangling the plot with this story- hence why it took so many drafts to get done.<strong>

**I SHALL LET IT DO AS IT PLEASES, AND IT SHALL (HOPEFULLY) BE GLORIOUS.**


	9. I: Irrational Response

"**Sad Inuyasha" playlist on Youtube, The Open Door CD, Not Strong Enough.**

**Touchy-touchy! I guess some of you weren't too impressed with Mr. Big Bad Demon Lord last chapter! Haha, yeah, he's a bit of a douche sometimes...**

* * *

><p><em><strong>To Make Things Right<strong>_

Irrational Response

As soon as Kagura left the scope of his senses, Sesshoumaru felt the sudden, violent change inside of himself. What had built up slowly was violently torn down by his instincts, his blind fury melting away like salt in the rain spilling down over him from the summer storm. The contrast between what he felt one moment and what he understood in the next left the Demon Lord dumbfounded: he had attacked his mate.

He had not threatened her, or warned her, or exerted power in even measures: he had _attacked_ her. The rain could not cover the thick scent of her blood as it was diluted and soaked into the ground where she had knelt behind the Half-breed. He had wounded her, badly, and the injury Sesshoumaru had received in return... wasn't adequate. In exchange for slashing open Kagura's leg he had burned his arm, but the blackened crust was already splitting to reveal tender pink flesh underneath, the bleeding had stopped, the pain was fading.

_He had attacked his mate._

Something... Something was very wrong.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Sesshoumaru?" He looked at the Half-breed in front of him, he didn't want to make eye-contact, but his resolve failed him. There was no moonlight under the storm, but he could still see the red, silver and gold of his half-brother's appearance. Inuyasha's bare feet were planted firmly on the wet ground and the fully transformed Tetseiga held up and ready with both hands. "Your scent's all broken up, and you're just shedding energy like-"

"Enough." The energy was not his, not entirely. Too much of it was oozing out of the marks on his wrists and face, the other sets on his body only just beginning to cool now that he was away from Kagura again. How did this continue to happen without his knowledge? How did her anger continue to creep into him and destroy his self-control? Because that was it again, one of them had grown angry first, and it had bled into the other, and then the excess had spilled back into the first, on and on in a cycle.

She had... touched something that bore the phoenix's scent, worn it in her hair. He had been angered to see it and had demanded she remove it before he did so instead. She had moved quickly from defensive to angry, giving him orders he had been compelled to follow out of indignation. She had removed the trinket, he couldn't even remember what it was, and he had destroyed it... but instead of being satisfied all his mind had been consumed with was the knowledge that she had _thrown_ it at him. It made no sense, it wasn't rational for him to behave this way. He knew Kagura's temper, he understood her childishness- how could he have attacked her for it?

"Don't you walk away from me!" He would do as was necessary to understand what was going on between himself and Kagura. "_Sesshoumaru!_" Fine.

"Rin will not die from the wounds I inflicted on her." Because yes, he had attacked Rin as well, but that had been different. He was not conflicted over his former ward, not anymore: Bakusaiga and Tenseiga were distraught at his side because of what had happened here, now, against his wife. Not even the healing blade had begrudged his actions towards Rin.

He had collected the Tenseiga from Totosai shortly before parting ways again with Kagura. The sword appeared as calm and collected as always, humming with strength all along its restored and sharpened edge. Totosai had made no additions or improvements to the fang, but confessed that he had no idea whether or not Fujin's blessing had remained in-tact through the repair process. There had been nothing for it, Sesshoumaru had not been of the temper to fault either the smith or the sword for the loss. Tenseiga had already established its habit of obtaining and losing powers, but it was still a sword of resurrection.

From the cave he had gone back to the village, ignoring the humans and their fields as he flew directly to the hovel where Jaken and Un had been housed. But Rin had been there again, ready to attack him with words.

Words alone could not bring his anger against her, he had not cut down the human because of her accusations or her hysterics. Sesshoumaru had proceeded to enter the hovel and simply _ignore_ Rin, looking over the decomposing remains of Ah's body where Un's conscious head and living neck had still been attached. He had put the outraged woman from his thoughts as his claws ripped through the paralysed Un and killed the beast.

Un had swallowed something important to him: a seal made of gold and corroded by years of absence and months within the demon's acidic stomach. The seal's power had kept Un alive after fleeing from the destroyed palace, and Sesshoumaru had not flinched away from ripping his claws through the slaughtered dragon's belly searching for the heavy metal disk. Jaken had not understood what was going on until the bile-and-blood coated seal presented itself in the Demon Lord's palm, but the toad had then broken out in a narrative stream to inform Rin of its significance.

The human hadn't cared, and Sesshoumaru had been prepared to forgive her outrageous behaviour when he turned to draw the Tenseiga on Un- but then she attacked him.

A mere human could do him no harm: an entire army of humans was little more then a nuisance. But it was the principle, his _pride._ It was her insulting words towards him and the black accusations she turned on his mate- a mate he defended because even _Kagura_ had been well-mannered enough to refrain from voicing her hatred for Rin. It was the fact that she physically lashed out at him. It was that she grabbed the Staff of Two Heads from Jaken's dumb-struck grasp and slammed it against his armoured back.

If she had damaged the Nintoujou then Sesshoumaru would have killed her. Ward or no, Rin or not, he needed that staff and having it broken by a human would have been intolerable. It was only the traces of that scent, the echos of that laugh, the memory of that smile... Those sensations alone had stayed his claws enough that he had drawn blood from Rin, not cleft her body in two. He had loved that child, and therefore spared the woman she had become.

"And what about Kagura? What happened to her just now?" Sesshoumaru wasn't walking but kept his back to Inuyasha, recalling the events that had brought the Half-breed chasing after him. The rain was still pouring down on them, soaking through his hair and worming its way between his clothing and armour. It was warm rain, and even the wind felt hot. It made him think of the blood he could still smell despite the foul weather. He had attacked his mate, and it should never have happened. "She isn't..." No, he had not killed his wife.

"She is a part of the storm, Kagura will return once it passes." That is... if she chose to return at all. The thought occurred to him and he tried to reject it, but couldn't. The uncertainty was well-founded.

"Why the hell would you take a wife if you can't even handle-" _Silence._

"Unlike you, little brother, I selected a mate powerful enough to face me."

"That's no excuse!"

_"And still rather peculiar..."_ The third voice interrupted before Sesshoumaru could form his reply, the Demon Lord holding back his words as his half-brother's tiny vassal decided to speak up. He had no interest in looking at Myoga, so kept his eyes ahead and back straight as they had been all this time, staring at the trees in front of him. _"Control over emotion is one thing, Lord Sesshoumaru, but to overcome both your instincts and the mating ritual is an incredible leap in power."_

"What the hell're you on about?" Inuyasha verbally attacked the flea before Sesshoumaru was sure he understood what had been said. His instincts and his marks were in open conflict with one another, but the flea had just made it sound like he had overcome both. That didn't make any sense.

_"Yes sire, but that's because you're a half-demon and Lady Kagome is human."_ He missed a portion of the exchange just thinking to himself, but Sesshoumaru tuned his hearing back to what was being said behind him. _"A proper mating ritual is required between full demons to prevent instances of rage from destroying the partnership. The sharing of yoki, and the mutual marking of flesh aren't necessary to control your temper or your wife's powers, so of course you didn't perform the ritual together."_ _Mutual?_

It was not a mutual act. Mating was the male laying his claim on a female, willing or not, to forge an unbreakable bond. Kagura had not been prepared for the act of marking _itself, _but she had been willing to join with him and had remained committed up until tonight. And he still wasn't sure what this most recent fight would mean for them: it was possible that as soon as the storm vanished she would return and they would continue on. The flea was spouting nonsense...

"Myoga." But just in case.

_"Er, yes sir?"_ He started walking, refusing to turn his eyes back on the Half-breed and his vassal. Myoga would follow or face the consequences, Sesshoumaru even picking up Inuyasha's voice as he quietly goaded the flea. The Half-breed had not come to fight him unless it became necessary, and neither of them seemed willing to pursue the conflict. The Demon Lord had more important things to concern himself with, such as putting the flea in his place, and he heard the sound of Tetseiga sliding back into its battered sheathe behind him.

"Follow." The fear in the tiny demon crystalized as Sesshoumaru moved through the forest away from Kagura's blood and Inuyasha's presence. Myoga would follow if he valued his life, and the insect was fast enough when it came to retreating that he would be able to catch up with the Demon Lord's pace without Sesshoumaru having to stop or wait for him.

He would have his answers.

* * *

><p>How could he? How <em>could<em> he? Kagura couldn't fly high or fast enough to let go of the question. Her body was nothing but wind and yet the pain was persistent. When her mind screamed there was agony from her wounds to go with it, arcing through clouds or past other arms of wind left them stained with blood and flower petals. She wasn't controlling the damage, she was trying to deal with everything else first.

It was the things he had said and the actions which had followed. One or the other would have been tolerable, Kagura could have understood, but both? No. He didn't get to attack her both ways and get away with it. He wasn't allowed to control her like that: Kagura was free. Sesshoumaru had no one but himself to blame for what had happened, all seventeen years of it.

Fujin had been right.

Kagura's senses were overwhelmed by the trauma going on in her mind and put on hold in her physical body. If she remained as the wind then she could slow the damage, but it just made the pain last longer. But she tried. She tried moving with the storm, tried to let the other winds, natural and not-so, carry her up and help her fly as she cut across the clouds and moved within the thunder. Everything was noise and movement: black sky and white lightning, steel rain peppering the ground far below and tormenting the upper realm.

But it was a small storm, a summer squall that had been born from the heat of the land and the cold of the sky: there was moisture and there was movement, the conflicting temperatures and rising tensions breaking out as thunder and lightning. It was allegorical, but Kagura didn't care, she didn't want her marriage played out in the heavens. Where was the calm? What was the reward? Why did she even _need _a reward to make this feel worthwhile?

Fujin had been right: a century was a good length of time for their kind. Five years had been too short, twelve years had been too short. If this was how it was going to be then neither Kagura nor Sesshoumaru were properly prepared to give up independence. They couldn't do this. It had worked for a few months as they moved from one end of the world to the other, journeyed from the lands where none had known them and they had been no one. But here? Where there were names and memories? No. When there were battles to be fought and enemies to slay, no, they couldn't do this.

Not together.

Kagura didn't feel herself falling until she heard something in the wind and opened her eyes, the dark world screaming up at her as she plummeted from the heavens. Too weak to stay within the storm, the wind witch was falling amidst the rain-drops and couldn't make herself stop. Kagura felt cords of air trying to chain around her and draw her weakened body back up, but there wasn't even enough fear in her to help them along. The noise was deafening: the wind, the thunder, the storm, she couldn't hear anything over the screaming, just felt her paralysed chest and knew none of it was coming from her. She wasn't breathing at all, just falling.

"_Kagura!"_ She closed her eyes and just let herself drop faster, divine fingers slipping through her loose hair as the witch rejected the Wind God's help. Fujin had been right, he'd questioned her devotion and he'd criticized Sesshoumaru's ability, and been ignored by both until he gave up. This was her punishment for her mistake.

The storm could have caught her again, she felt the celestial eye tracking her as the world continued to scream up at her, but Kagura didn't want it to. Let her endure this alone, her heart was screaming for solitude. Or maybe... not solitude, not completely... Just-

_'A friend.'_ She had... only ever had one friend. Naraku had killed her, left her mirror resting atop a pile of useless rubble. But she had been someone with no will to harm, no wish to use or betray... _'Kanna...'_

Kagura couldn't even take a breath to brace herself, just opened her eyes for a moment before her wounded body collided with the surface.

* * *

><p>"Well I... I'm sorry my lord but that's just not how it is." Pride demanded that he strike down the flea for correcting him, but there was a coldness in his body that stilled his claws. Sesshoumaru despised the cold, but it would not leave him as he walked, the terrified Myoga sitting on his raised palm. "All that happened was the colour change? There... should have been much more. The completely open link you've established is far too impersonal to last for very long..."<p>

"You're implying that the ritual is not complete."

"Yes, Lord Sesshoumaru." He did not understand. "Completing the ritual will temper the bond and limit the emotional bleeding. What you have now is, I suppose, similar to an engagement or betrothal: a mutual bearing of souls. If my lord intended to secure a mate purely for procreative reasons then this would suf-"

"That was not my intention." Not entirely. He had chosen to claim Kagura because she was his, that would not change regardless of her fertility. The flea was a trembling bundle in his hand and Sesshoumaru had to quash the urge to just close his palm and kill the creature.

"I-I thought not. Of course, the fact that your nature conflicts with Lady Kagura's... does not help things." Explain. "Well, as an _Inu-daiyokai_ m'lord your nature is quite possessive, if Lady Kagura shared that then I'm sure she would have marked you once you made your intentions clear. But as a being born of the elements she is quite different." Reborn, that was what Myoga meant. Kagura had been **re**born from the elements. "Err, yes sir."

"She values her freedom." Free to go, free to stay, those were the words she was always quoting at him.

"Then she likely values yours as well. I doubt the ritual can be completed without some manner of sacrifice on your part." And here Myoga fled his grasp before the Demon Lord could instinctively clutch his hand and kill him. The flea had wisely leapt into the sodden grass and bushes before expressing his opinion. "Lord Sesshoumaru, wind demons by nature are very complex creatures! But I'm certain you know your chosen one well enough to reach an understanding!"

The storm was not going to hide the flea if Sesshoumaru chose to kill him, but the Demon Lord made himself tolerant as the tiny demon hid within the screen of rain that was still dumping down on his head. He didn't need the lightning to see Myoga cowering behind a large furn leaf, and the effect of the water on his sense of smell didn't give the insect a proper chance of evading him. Even over the thunder, Sesshoumaru could still hear Myoga's pounding heart.

He would have killed him, not because he had been unhelpful, but simply to silence the only being aside from himself and Kagura who was aware of what was wrong between them. Sesshoumaru was about to cut through the tiny body of his father's former servant, but then he stopped.

His cold marks went burning hot, then the icy sensation returned with such a painful intensity that, despite himself, Sesshoumaru abruptly winced. He sucked in a deep, silent breath to control his reaction, filling his lungs before smoothly exhaling the same way. There was a flash of lightning across the roiling black sky, and the Demon Lord's eyes were drawn up towards the storm.

Was that...?

He thought, for an instant, that he felt a familiar presence and saw a flash of something white up between the clouds. Then he _did_ see it: the youthful avatar of a powerful and ancient god. Fujin had done it to irritate him and continued with the ploy now, looking down from the sky while wearing the face of Naraku's detachment Hakudoshi- Kagura's brother.

The colour of the gods' eyes through the avatar was ever-changing, and the distance now didn't permit Sesshoumaru to make a guess at the hue right now. All he saw was Fujin standing in the sky moving with the storm, his cold gaze directed down at the Demon Lord before his attention swung out to the west. Unbidden, Sesshoumaru's followed- then his entire body went hot.

"Lord Sesshoumaru?" Myoga's unwanted voice cut through the wind. "I-is it Lady Kagura?"

"No." Bending his knees just for a moment, the Demon Lord leapt into the air and quickly began to fight the wind as he rose up over the trees. It didn't matter that he abandoned the flea out in the middle of the storm, Myoga was too much of a coward to cling to him as he left without another word and flew off into the violent night.

* * *

><p>The surface she struck was liquid, but she hadn't known that from above. The world was too dark and chaotic for her to recognize the difference between a lake and a field as she plummeted into the deep wet. It felt like she'd crashed through solid stone though, flown into a mountain and broken any bones still keeping her body together.<p>

Her world went from overwhelming noise to deafening silence, the black waters pulsing with her heart and drumming through her wounded limbs and chest. Kagura didn't know how far down she went before her arm and shoulder touched the thick silt at the bottom, but she just kept her eyes closed and let herself settle. Everything hurt.

Her ribs were already trying to heal, but it was her leg that she couldn't get past. It hurt too much to try and touch the sliced limb through her gown; she knew she'd been poisoned, and the toxins in her blood were making it difficult to gauge how much real damage there was. Would she die from the poison? Had he hated her enough in that moment to give her a fatal wound? How much resentment was Sesshoumaru suppressing for so much violence to erupt all at once..?

Kagura wanted to cry, just sob and kick and wail until the suffocating emotions were gone and she could think clearly. But it wasn't just sorrow choking her: there was no air for weeping, her chest wouldn't even contract for silent trembling. A few bubbles of air slipped past her red lips and Kagura opened her eyes under the lake, completely blind save to watch the several oblong capsules of air vanish over her head towards what had to be the surface. Her head and face were half-buried in the mud, but she couldn't move. Her uninjured leg tried to push away the silt, but that just stirred up a huge cloud and blinded her to direction and covered her in filth.

_'I won't die- not like this.'_ But the burning pain of the toxic attack was persistent, moving through her skin and afflicting her stomach and side as much as her swollen ankle and raw thighs. _'I can wait, I won't fall asleep, I'll wait-'_ Until her chest was repaired enough, until she could move fragile bone and climb out of the lake. So long as she remained conscious she would be fine. Kagura was not a patient person, but to save herself she would behave like one: she'd wrestle through her marks and steal however many moments of calm it would take to save her life. That bastard Sesshoumaru would not kill her.

She minded time by the wind overhead- she could feel the storm but had no power to rise up and try to join with it again. Kagura kept her mind on the storm and then opened her eyes again once she realized the cloud of sticky filth in the water had settled down over her. The grit was so fine it moved through her clothes and made her feel tainted, dirty, and she didn't know why the marks in her skin didn't give her the same sense of revulsion. Tentatively moving one hand, when she found the pain was tolerable Kagura managed to loosen one of the white buttons under her throat, then another one. She could only pry and tug on the thick evergreen bodice, terrified of what would happen if she made the critical mistake of loosening the sash around her waist, but she'd tolerate the mud if it meant- there.

Kagura's fingertips touched one of the maroon slashes that had been cut across her collarbones, two on each side, and as she shut her crimson eyes the wind witch felt the intense need for air abruptly lessen. It wasn't enough, but it was something, and she kept her touch over the tinted skin as it flashed from its constant, burning heat to something cold and numbing- but it was brief, and then they went back to hot. Her skin was burning enough from the venom, but maybe pleading in her mind was what slowly turned the marks cold again: the sensation felt almost tolerable, reliable.

Unlike _him._

Opening her eyes again after the relief faded and Kagura found her body trying to move again below the lake, more precious air escaped her pursed lips and she watched them turn red as they gained distance from her. She was _still_ bleeding, the crimson mixing with the lake water and drifting up in a pink cloud. Seeing it made the reality worse, and a small whimper built in her constricted throat. Air, more than a friend, she needed air.

_'Help-'_ Who? Who would help? '_Please- anyone-'_ No one. _'Sesshoumaru, Fujin-?'_ She'd already rejected the Wind God's help, and the Demon Lord was done with her. _'Kanna-!"_

Kagura was holding her own throat tightly with one hand, trying to keep any more air from escaping her compromised lungs. Her entire body tensed and spasmed when she pried her other arm from the mud to try and feel her chest- how much longer until she could move? Could she climb out now? Could she try? Her hand didn't even make it all the way to her chest when she felt something else, fear spiking through her as her crimson eyes snapped open.

Kanna's mirror, where was it? Kagura's sight was blind in the dark water, but her eyes remained open. Her comb was gone, and her fan was lost, but now she couldn't feel Kanna's mirror at her belt, and the fire rod offered her no comfort in its place. She'd lost Kanna, it wasn't possible, she couldn't have-

_'Kanna- Kanna come back I-'_ No, no not her too, not tonight, not all together. _'Kanna- Se-'_

Kagura screamed and swallowed water.

* * *

><p><strong>I am HESITANT to believe that Inutaisho sat Sesshoumaru down and explicitly described the mating ritual to his son before he was old enough to use it (small child if using Takahashi's examples of Sessh and IY being 19 and 15 in appearance, young teen according to Movie 3), or that his mother would fill in the blanks in the meantime. The Final Act paints a picture of Sesshoumaru not visiting his mother for a very long time (in this story, not since the General died), so yeah, instinct can only carry you so far.<strong>

**And poor Kagura, this chapter was slow to write in the beginning and then really picked up with the Apocalyptica song.**


	10. I: Revising the Plan

**Not Strong Enough,**

**Celebratory chapter! Why? Because I set myself a goal of 100k words written in the Month of June (it was a challenge from the Temple of Kraden for the writers) AND I DID IT. I DID IT TODAY.**

**Maybe I can hit 110? Who knows, but you guys get an update!**

* * *

><p><em><strong>To Make Things Right<strong>_

Revising the Plan

Kyoura, the regenerating beast who had claimed divinity as a god of war: he had been a fire bird. But it had not been the same breed of phoenix as the ones invading the Western Lands. Kyoura had been overwhelmed by energy and torn to pieces, that didn't work on these creatures.

There were only three ways to kill their kind. To slice them and throw their scattering ashes into the storm's fury was one, made easier by the persistent howl of the wind as the night-time thunderstorm refused to blow itself out all at once. The other was to submerge the ashes in moving water and let the currents do the job of smothering and separating the residual heat. The rain was not good for this, but Sesshoumaru didn't care about those first two methods. Not tonight.

Because the third was to attack the birds until they disintegrated into ash, and then before they could reform-

"_Tenseiga."_ -scar their spirits with the healing blade. Only the strongest birds in the flock survived this and were able to rebirth from the ashes they had created, but they were quick to learn that their immortality was effectively gone after that. They fell to his claws and temper as soon as they reformed that final time, mortal and in grave danger.

Moving with or against the wind as it pleased him in battle, he had not seen nor sensed Fujin again, and Tenseiga gave no indication that its patron was still anywhere within the black sky. But it didn't matter, Sesshoumaru didn't need the wind's aid as he ripped his claws down the side and back of a slow demon- his nose had fooled him, Ryokijin was not here.

These were soldiers, but they were few and young: a scouting party. These were not lands Sesshoumaru needed to defend, it was his pride on the line as he chased down one fire bird that stank more strongly of salt than the others. Its true form was not much larger than the Demon Lord's compact human body, but Tenseiga flashed through the air once it became clouded with ash- a dull red haze appearing where the bird's spirit was fighting to collect itself and run away.

Their cries were irritating to him, his ears stinging whenever one or more managed to reach a certain frequency of fear and panic. As he dealt with the scout beneath him another, slightly older, bird whipped around and shed its true form; a long naginata appearing between the phoenix's hands as he made a desperate bid to distract the Demon Lord. Did he want his compatriots to flee and send word to their own lord about this upset? Very well, but Sesshoumaru would not allow himself to send more than one messenger.

"_Ryokijin!"_

"Do not utter that name in my presence." Like any polearm, naginata had a wider range of attack than the sword the Demon Lord held in his right hand, but in the air this advantage was difficult to use if unprepared or simply out-matched. Sesshoumaru didn't even dodge the sword-blade as it swung around on the edge of the phoenix's staff, planning his course of attack around and from below the incoming bird and then following through without thought. He knew the weapon would not come near him, and was not proven wrong before Tenseiga moved effortlessly through the exposed back of his opponent's neck. There was no blood, and the phoenix tried to cover his stunned shock by twirling the bladed staff back around over his head and aiming a desperate sweep at the Demon Lord. Sesshoumaru simply lopped off the offensive arms with his whip and then sped forward through the air, plunging his claws into the eyes of the frightened bird. The poison completed any work the stab itself did not accomplish.

In the dark high above the forest it was not difficult to feel the heat and see the light of fire before it reached him, several phoenixes still remaining as Sesshoumaru fed his rage into his body and allowed himself to phase out of sight before reappearing. Tenseiga and a lash of electric-green light finished off the female who had so wrongly attempted to strike him from behind.

So Ryokijin was not opposed to letting his women into battle? Had his supposed rival not enough men to fill his ranks? _Shameful._

The one he decided not to kill was caught out of the air by his hand. Her red cuirass was worn and looked second-hand, white sleeves and pants marking her as some being of lower rank. He found this suitable, his claws held back from piercing her throat as he instead grabbed the phoenix by her long, tightly bound red hair. The Demon Lord needed merely roll his body over in the air to build up the proper momentum, releasing the small demon at break-neck speeds to strike the ground many dozens of yards below the battle. The one who dove after her was struck by Tenseiga and scattered, dead, the last one left to defend the Phoenix Lord's honour was impaled on Sesshoumaru's claws, the Healing Blade banishing his soul to the afterlife.

_'I am not satisfied.' _No, as he found himself now out of opponents to kill, the Demon Lord was not ready to finish fighting. There was too much rage in him to simply rest idle, his anger too fresh and pride severely wounded: he could not search for Kagura yet. He would wait for her to return, and in the meantime he would accomplish his goals as Demon Lord. Sesshoumaru didn't even want Jaken right now, he didn't want to reclaim his lands yet: he wanted to destroy the phoenixes, all of them, _especially_ their leader.

_'He touched what was mine.'_ His Kagura, no one else's. _'He followed her, harassed, **chased** her._' It had not caused his woman fear; she was not weak enough to rely on another, even if it was him, that strongly. But it was still harassment. _'He watched her, touched her things- replaced my gift.'_ Touching Kagura's property was the same as touching her flesh. When Ryokijin replaced the comb, had he rifled through her clothing? Had he run his hands down what caressed and covered her body? Had he searched for her scent, fresh off her skin?

_'Everything he values, I will destroy.'_ It was a vow, it was silent but it was true. _'Every life he has touched, I will end. Every joy he has felt, I will spoil.'_ Sesshoumaru was accused of being unfit, ignorant of his mate and her needs. She had expected him to destroy Ryokijin, to defend her honour, and he had waited so he could gain the tools necessary for reclaiming his lands instead. He should have regained Tenseiga and then gone immediately after the phoenix, Jaken could have waited. Sesshoumaru had been manipulated: become predictable to an opponent who had felt no danger approaching his woman in her most vulnerable state.

It was a slight and insult to them both, Sesshoumaru bearing the greater shame because it was _his_ responsibility to defend _what was his._ If he could not do that, then he was not fit to have a mate. He was still _too young. Too inexperienced._ It was the same thing his mother had said before their brief encounter had turned violent: he should never have been struck and poisoned by a demoness whose tactics he knew so well.

He made his decision and quickly began moving through the storm, aware that the winds were weakening and the tension in the sky was draining. Sesshoumaru set his course back into the Half-breed's lands and sought the highland cliffs with his eyes, looking for the place where he had left Jaken and Un. He didn't care about the toad, he didn't want the Nintoujou, he didn't need Un-

He wanted that comb. And if he couldn't find Kagura's gift there, Sesshoumaru would rake Bakusaiga and Tenseiga together through every ounce of ash in the Western lands until he found who was responsible.

It was another vow.

* * *

><p>Kagura woke up slowly, her other senses weakly pulling together before the wind witch felt strong enough to open her eyes. First came sound, the quiet crackle of popping and snapping- like a fire?<p>

'_Oh no... no, please no...'_ Next came feeling, the wet, heavy sensation of her clothes clutching her body, the grass against one side of her face and pressed to her wrists and hands. She was on her side, and when her nose allowed her to smell all she caught at first was the stink of lake water and mud, then the crushed grass she had already felt- and something sour? She didn't... know what that smell was. After that it was the cool freshness of forest soil, and she felt a few rays of warm sunshine on her face and hair. Daylight.

After that it was pain, the second half of sensation waking up and causing a weak burn to move up and down the witch's leg, radiating out from a strong area of tension along her thigh. Her chest was completely numb, but still sore despite that. She could breathe, she was filthy, but it was okay. Kagura felt okay. Why... why was her gown hiked up? What was in her hands?

Finally, she opened her eyes, a groan building in her chest and finding life in her throat. The world was a blur of pale brown wood and the greenery of the forest- she was sleeping under a tree. But this wasn't where she'd landed. Closing her eyes again, Kagura tried to think back... the sensations that blossomed out of her memories were decidedly unpleasant.

_'I was drowning, how did I end up here?'_ Who could have- what was in her hands?

Opening her eyes again, Kagura stopped breathing. It wasn't very large, or heavy, but resting between her hands on the grass was a round silver mirror- or was it silver? The rim looked almost like it was stained pink, the swirling, oily tint reminding her of the inside of a soap bubble. But it was the design she recognized; the sweeping clouds and hooked handles, the crest-like form of the metal as it cradled the reflective glass in its centre. Restored glass, real, not the few forgotten chips remaining embedded in that rim when it had still been ghostly white. Kanna's mirror, the one she'd lost when she entered the lake.

_'Kanna?'_ Slowly trying to prop herself up on one arm, Kagura made her body move despite its sore protests. She put her weight on her right hip, her left leg was kept straight and exposed, the wind-witch ignoring her pale skin for now as she pressed her shoulder against the tree and held up the mirror. Out of habit and awareness, she kept from looking straight into it, tilting the metal and glass so she was looking at it in angles; seeing the reflection of the tree, the grass, the forest spreading around her. It was Kanna's mirror. It was the wrong colour, but it was hers.

"You are awake." Kagura found her fingers clutching the item tensely, the reflective surface facing away from her as the soft voice spoke up. She knew her eyes were wide and Kagura bit her bottom lip as she curled it into her mouth, trying to think of what to say, or how to come up with a response. Her mind was drawing blanks. "Do not move."

She had to turn her head slowly, ignoring the command that was delivered in such a meek voice. Years had past, years and years, since she had last heard that voice. Kagura couldn't even remember what the last thing Kanna said to her had been, she just knew it had been such a long time ago.

There she was, the mirror demon born from Naraku, the first of so many incarnations. At first all Kagura could notice was that Kanna's mirror was missing- but that was because she was holding it. The other demon was small, resembling a human child of no more than ten or twelve years, and dressed only a little differently than Kagura remembered her: a pale rose obi now wrapped around her waist. The addition of colour felt like a shock against the pure white of Kanna's small yukata, the clean lines flowing unbroken with her hair where the stark locks were pinned back in sections. The flowers in her hair, the only real decoration Kanna had ever worn, were also pink, as if someone had just breathed the colour over the soft round petals.

"Kanna...?" How?

"Do not move, there are no more bandages." Bandages? Kagura didn't understand what her sister meant until she followed Kanna's charcoal gaze down. Her gown had been pulled up and the white layer spread open to reveal her wounded left leg. The wind-witch only noticed now that her black sash had been untied around her waist and re-bound tightly up and down her chest, the multiple yards of cloth put to good use bracing her ribs and holding her torso together. It was alright that her green bodice had been opened, if it was Kanna's doing. If she shifted Kagura could feel her white gown moving freely as well: the cloth wrapped around her wound was actually her inner belt. If it was Kanna's doing then she was fine with the violation, and cloth could be washed.

Ignoring the disturbed state of her clothes for now, Kagura properly looked down at her leg: the entire limb was inflamed and swollen around the joints. It actually looked worse than it felt right now, and she didn't know why. There was black skin creeping out from under the bandages, dead flesh that her body would have to purge before it could be replaced. She would be scarred by this, but so long as she didn't lose the limb, that would be alright. Daring to feel around and touch her own hip, Kagura winced at the terrible pain: walking would be impossible so long as she was like this.

"What's that stink?" Kanna had turned away and the wind witch finally thought to look for where the fire was, the small pile of sticks burning as the mirror demon placed a few more branches on the tidy blaze. How long must it have taken Kanna to start the fire? The entire forest was soaked, Kagura could still taste the after-effects of the storm that had carried her away from her fight.

But she didn't want to think about that, think about _him_, not right now. She watched Kanna wander off and bring a few small pieces of dead wood over to rest and dry next to the fire, replacing the ones she'd just tossed onto the blaze. Kanna then opened one of her tiny hands and dropped a few crushed green leaves into... what was that?

"Is that... glass?" At first she had thought it was iron, but where would Kanna have found metal? Three glass legs had blackened from sitting over the fire, but gave no indication that they were going to crack or burst from the heat. Held at the top of the legs was a deep bowl, also glass, also black, and the source of that sour stink.

"You need medicine." Kagura almost spoke up when she watched the glass girl put her hands inside whatever was bubbling away, using her fingers to stir the thick mixture before lifting them out, unblemished, and sniffed the concoction. The girl's black eyes and pale face gave no indication of pain, or what she thought of the brew.

"Use a stick, Kanna-"

"It does not hurt." Yeah but it- oh, nevermind... She remembered enough to know it wasn't worth it to argue with the void. Instead, Kagura tried to make her body twist enough that she could rest her back against the tree, taking as deep a breath as her bruised ribs would allow and holding deep. Finally managing the manoeuvre, her entire body was throbbing as a result but there was satisfaction in having control. Kanna in the meantime had removed the glass from the fire with her bare hands, white fingers going black like the bowl and legs.

Had she changed then? It occurred to Kagura only when she saw Kanna take note of her black hands and rub some of the residue onto the grass at her feet. Kagura had changed when she found her new life; she was more wind than flesh, except for right now. Was Kanna now more mirror than girl? The question would have to wait, and the witch just sat there for a moment watching her sister scoop the green paste out of her little bowl. Taking note of the temperature, Kanna smeared the salve across both her palms, then stood and walked over to Kagura again.

There were no words, Kagura understood and made her leg twist around so Kanna could rub the reduced herbs into her inflamed skin. Kanna started down at her ankle, liberal with the paste as she rubbed it over the dancer's foot and then around the swollen joint. The medicine was still warm, almost hot, but as Kanna moved further and further up her leg, the skin began to cool and the pain abate. Kagura wanted to sigh in thanks, but the breath necessary for the sound was painful to draw.

"This is a Demon Lord's poison." Kanna stated, her voice so quiet that the witch had to make sure she was listening, helping move her gown aside so the mirror's small hands could reach her hip and side. "A dog demon." Kagura tried not to wince, but failed.

"Yes."

"Those are different." Kanna was standing again, having knelt to finish applying the medicine, and looking at Kagura's chest. The wind-witch followed her sister's gaze and nodded, reaching up to tug on the parted folds of her gown's neckline. She'd undone a portion of it while in the water, it had calmed her, bought time.

Because of where they were, Kagura had a hard time seeing Sesshoumaru's marks most of the time, but now that she was holding Kanna's mirror the sorceress took advantage. Between her shoulder and neck on each side, spreading down over her collar bone in smooth, even sweeps, were the deep maroon-red marks the Demon Lord had cut into her flesh. They had seared her skin for hours when he marked her, but the one that had caused her so much trouble, had in fact left her paralysed on the ground for _hours_ waiting for the pain to pass, was the one in the centre of her chest, just above and between her breasts.

She wasn't quite sure what it was, a circle of yellow skin that had a small bit of sparkle to it in the light, like gold dust. This mark wasn't as clear to her as the slashes- but it burned the most, and reacted the strongest whenever she was near Sesshoumaru. It had been the most painful one for him to place on her and yet it was the least impressive. Kagura almost felt self-conscious of it now, and covered herself slowly, mindful that she not cause herself any additional pain. She had no reason to feel shy around Kanna, but she simply didn't want the marks shown off anymore, or at least not right now...

_'I don't even know what I'm going to do...'_ Should she go back and find him? Was that the right thing to do? Or, a better question: was it what she _wanted _to do?

"Do not die, Kagura." Hmm? She realized she'd been ignoring Kanna, and resolved to fix that, looking back up at the mirror demon's black eyes. Eyes that weren't quite as open as before? As she watched her sister's face, Kanna's expression wasn't changing, but her black eyes drifted closed before opening again smoothly, then half-closed again, back to open- less open. She had never seen her sister tired before.

"Come, sit." Placing Kanna's mirror on the grass, Kagura patted the ground to her right side, the uninjured one, and watched as the other demon carefully picked her path around and slowly seated herself. Kanna's hands were still coated in herbs, black hand prints on her white dress. Kagura' clothes still filled with lake-mud, her loose hair tangled into a horrible, filthy mess, but she just placed her arm around her older sister's smaller body, and tugged a little until Kanna's white head came to rest gently on her shoulder. The child didn't resist her, and it was the first time Kagura ever felt the white girl's body relax.

_'On my first day, I didn't have to do as much as you, sister.'_ So no, no questions for Kanna today, not now. There would be time and that moment wasn't now: she had pulled someone twice her size from the bottom of a lake, performed woodcraft the void had never been taught, guarded a charge and soothed injuries. There would be no interrogation to follow.

Today was the first day she felt the mirror girl sleep.

* * *

><p><strong>I decided I was either going to bring back Kanna, or that kite demon from RtW. Does anybody remember him? The guy from chapter 9 who carried Sesshou through the storm? I figured both would be too much, but I have some interactions planned for Kanna that the kite, while cute and funny, just can't compete with.<strong>

**Although I was still looking forward to Kagura's familiar facing off against Sesshoumaru's servant. Snicker-snicker-glee.**


	11. I: Ticking Time

**Not Strong Enough, Sad Inuyasha Playlist, District 9 OST3 because stupid dog.**

**Oh man, Kohaku got cut. He got cut so bad; he still shows up eventually but it's nothing compared to the role he and Rin had before. **

**Also, for those of you who might enjoy an AU once in a while, Sunny's scratching along-standing itch and, tomorrow (Friday), will begin posting chapters of Taking Care, a Kagura/Sesshoumaru fic set in the modern day. AUs aren't everyone's cup of tea so don't feel obligated to read it, but a little advertisement on my part can't hurt.**

**Rant in the closing AN, feel free to ignore.**

* * *

><p><em><strong>To Make Things Right<strong>_

Ticking Time

The following month did not pass by slowly, it crawled and crept along like an injured animal. At times the hours even gave up and laid as if dead around him: time just refusing to speed up and pass by. Because of this he, Lord Sesshoumaru, found himself in a state of anxiety so strong that it directly interfered with every other aspect of his life.

Which was why he decidedly narrowed all aspects down to one thing: killing.

It was not like the Kamikaze of years before. It was not wondering and waiting and going on with life while expecting the wind to turn up at some point and stay with him. It was not like that, because there was no wondering, he knew: Kagura had not come back yet. Kagura was _capable,_ but she had not come back. She had her freedom, and his mate was not using it to find him.

Could he have broken off his hunt for the phoenix clan and gone to find her instead? Yes, of course he could. But that was not the point. Finding her would not make things better. She had left with the storm, that was her prerogative, her right as a wind demon: but she was supposed to come and find him again afterwards. The storm had not been strong enough to drag her more than a month's travel away from him, it had been a summer thunderstorm, not a divine gale.

_'Where are you?'_ It was not the honest question in his heart, but watching the blue summer sky as Un grazed on the tufts of grass poking through the ash, Sesshoumaru couldn't voice his real concern. Standing silently on the grey wasteland, the vibrant blue of the sky domed over head, he tried feeling out anything nearby with which to distract himself. If Sesshoumaru acknowledged his fear it would consume him, and destroy what little progress he'd managed to make over the last several weeks.

He could not ask himself what he had done. He could think the question in ignorance, maybe, but never dared to try. Sesshoumaru could not make himself acknowledge his actions without Kagura present in front of him, because if he had spurned her too harshly, damaged her trust in him too greatly... If he had done anything at all that would mean losing her-

"_Lord Sesshoumaru!_" A distraction, and one the Demon Lord took as he angled his golden eyes down across the scorched prairie. If he looked to the south and east, he could see the line of green that marked the edge of his expanding territory, but the colour was dull, faded. He had acknowledgement from the land that went no further than accepting his presence and providing for his needs, not true obedience, not proper ownership. And he understood why: he did not have his mate with him, and the conflict was visible to the spirits he was trying to impress.

Even the forest spirit he had first encountered now looked on him with unease. He had won the favour of the mountain when he first returned to the Western lands with Kagura, but it was like the spirit had been able to smell her blood on him. It had grown disinterested in his presence after only a few moments, the lack of confidence weakening his hold over the territory.

Sesshoumaru could make himself mad, he could call on his pride and use it to strengthen and enrage him: he had done so already several times before. But it was moments of quiet like this, where he was not fighting, where he was waiting for Jaken's tiny legs to carry him close enough through the ash so the imp could be heard... It was moments like these where he felt his pride begin to crumble, felt the throbbing wound that had been dealt to his ego- next to his heart.

He had not forged a proper bond between himself and Kagura, and now she wasn't even close enough for him to try and make things right. He-

"Lord Sesshoumaru! The Nintoujou has located the nest spring!" Perhaps this was good news, he could see the hesitation in the imp's yellow eyes and was aware that Jaken didn't know what would please him anymore. Sesshoumaru had not explained his difficulties to the servant, it was not something for him to be aware of: the flea had been enough. The fact that he knew almost beyond a doubt that Myoga had either gone on to speak to Totosai, or worse, to Inuyasha about the Demon Lord's affairs... Between his alternating bouts of blood-lust and weakened pride, Sesshoumaru had no set reaction.

"We've found it, m'lord, and it's being guarded by-"

"By more of Ryokijin's kin. Very good, Jaken." The tiny kappa stopped, stunned, and refused to so much as breathe where he'd caught himself in mid-stride. No one was permitted to use the Phoenix Lord's name in Sesshoumaru's hearing, and although Sesshoumaru himself spoke it now Jaken still took it as some sort of indication that he would be struck for it. The praise only further confused him. Idiot toad.

_'Ryokijin.'_ He moved slowly, repeating the name in his mind because it was the only thing which could, no matter what, bring his temper back from the brink of melancholy. Sesshoumaru was not a slave to his emotions, and chose to walk as he always did in the direction Jaken had scampered from. He would not rush: running made the entire issue of conquest go by faster but did not effect his perception of time and days. Sesshoumaru refused to speed into and through his upcoming battle, because if he did then he would find himself in the afternoon hours wondering again why she had not returned to him.

The Staff of Two Heads could do more than simply locate tombs, or issue blasts of flame and water: it was made to detect and locate any hidden spiritual field. Sesshoumaru had used it years before to completely calm the Western Lands because it drastically cut down the amount of time necessary to find the land's spirits. It was not disturbed by the ash and smoke which still made it difficult for the Demon Lord to track in his old territories, and therefore had been an important step in his plans to regain the Western Lands sooner.

_'A mis-step.'_ But only in hindsight.

* * *

><p>None of the Phoenix Lord's kin survived his assault this time, the entire brood dying under his claws and Tenseiga. It depended purely on how his mood shifted whether or not Sesshoumaru permitted the one messenger to escape. He couldn't help but grow irritated sometimes, wondering how many more demons he would have to let flee back to their master before the great fire bird would meet him in combat. Was Ryokijin scared? It would be fitting if he were.<p>

Sheathing Tenseiga smoothly, the healing blade did not object to the slaughter it had caused; it read his intentions, understood his motivation. Bakusaiga had been of use this time as well, the sword waiting its turn as Sesshoumaru had dispatched the regenerative powers of the troop before releasing the wave of death off the killing blade's edge. He had only needed Tenseiga again briefly to annihilate the one he had considered letting go: Sesshoumaru had changed his mind, taking satisfaction in the horrified screams of the bird as it died.

"_I... I can't breathe..."_ He had killed them by cornering the birds inside the small cave where they had been roosting. It was an almost ignorable hole in the ground, settled inside the folds of several hills and marked by the pebbled ground that had once been a small creek or stream. The cave was hardly tall enough for Sesshoumaru to stand inside, a tiny dip in the ground giving off an ounce of milky white light as the Demon Lord surveyed the smouldering carnage. _"Help me... please..."_

It was not a difficult request to fulfil, the Demon Lord exposing his own arm as Jaken came tottering up to the cave mouth: drawn by the silence after the clash. The imp said nothing, simply watched as Sesshoumaru took his own claws to his skin, producing a thin stream of blood that trailed down into the dry spring. The crimson droplets turned stark white before peppering the dry ground, the spirit quickly feeding off the life energies as water started to seep up from the unseen veins of the water table. Once the process started the Demon Lord was able to step back and avoid getting wet, watching the spring fill up without spilling its shallow bank.

A face appeared slowly next to his shadowed reflection, a man who was neither old nor young forming out of the ripples and light, mature without appearing archaic. The firm lines of his mouth and cheeks made him look grim, but such was to be expected of a natural spirit that had been violated by the near-constant phoenix fire. The stones were black around them both, the walls of the cave still hot and shards of stone indicating where the rocks had burst from the heat's intensity.

"_I... do not understand."_

"If you desire a new pact to include my wife, then you must wait." He recognized the confusion as soon as it entered the spirit's half-exposed face. The essence within the pool looked considerate, but disappointed at the same time. It may not have been complete, but his bond with Kagura was still a beacon to the spirits of land and water. Sesshoumaru was through arguing with them: it was futile and his temper was too unstable to handle delving into the topic any more than he already had.

"_I will remember..."_ And then the face vanished, the spirit's recovery stalled with only the barest trickle of water dribbling out past the cave mouth. It was not enough to declare confidence in him, an insubstantial flow which would do nothing to restore the Western Lands. He was acknowledged as a possible candidate for support by shedding his blood, but Sesshoumaru would not be able to obtain proper dominance until he could prove himself in _all _areas. Life had been much simpler before Kagura.

"I just don't know what these spirits want anymore, Lord Sesshoumaru! So picky!" Jaken was prepared with unwanted words of consolation and support as the Demon Lord left the cave behind. He felt only a dull pulse from the seal hidden inside his armour, not pulling the disk out to look at it; he knew it had not changed. Not enough.

There had been a time, before his absence, when the seal had been larger than Jaken was tall, the gold thick enough that it would take truly impressive strength to lift it, let alone damage it as it had been. Spending months inside Un's corrosive stomach had done the gold no favours. Now the palm-sized disk was hardly worth looking at, the thin trinket stowed on the right side of his armour. The left, fittingly, was reserved for the small silk pouch holding Kagura's comb. He would return it to her when she came back from whatever was occupying her time.

"Honestly, putting so much emphasis on a woman who isn't even around anymore, it just doesn't make any-"

"Jaken."

"Eh- yes, m'lord?"

"Do not force me to kill you. I will not be inconvenienced with searching for your replacement." Letting the ash rise and swirl around his ankles as he walked, the Demon Lord briefly turned his gaze skyward, believing for a moment that he had felt the wind. But it was not so, and he set his sights over the next hill. The next field. The next spirit.

* * *

><p>It surprised Kagura how quickly time started to pass for her. It was like her entire world shifted when she woke up and found Kanna sleeping quietly next to her. Her pain and outrage against Sesshoumaru was not forgotten, but she allowed herself to become distracted from it. She would figure things out eventually, but for now the wind-witch was going to be at least a little happy.<p>

"_My mirror was... within the mirror."_ This cryptic explanation from Kanna was clarified once Kagura actually took a look down at the lake she had nearly drowned in: it was almost perfectly round, with a smooth and unbroken surface that, especially at night, looked like a great mirror. Something about the lake water had restored a portion of Kanna's signature, the water forming into glass and altering the silver.

"_There was blood, and it was not supposed to be there." _Blood which had tainted the mirror's rim, and Kanna's flowers, blood that had soaked into her clothing and formed an obi tied around her waist. The pale rose colour that followed the void's movements was the blood of her sister. Kagura was able to accept both the honourable qualities and the morbid ones that came with this knowledge.

"_Were you free?" _They both asked each other this question. Kanna had had no answer, not really, and just said that she had experienced time- whatever that meant. When the glass girl asked Kagura, the wind-witch was able to nod. She was surprised when she felt herself begin to smile at the memories, not all of them, but enough that she...

Kanna was curious about her marks, but more-so about what had caused her injuries. Kagura didn't know how to deal with this because the mirror had never expressed interest in anything at all while serving Naraku. She started to understand it better after a few more days and nights passed by though: Kanna's purpose had been to serve Naraku, and now that he was years dead and she found herself suddenly restored, she had no purpose.

Kanna was starting to learn about what she wanted, and Kagura understood that this would take time. In a way, spending years alive and in relative solitude had been good for the sorceress: she had worked through most of her emotions and memories. Kagura been able to experience all the baggage Naraku had saddled her with before finally putting it aside where it belonged, so now it was her sister's turn.

"Were you betrayed?"

"Hmm?" It took her body time to finally rid itself of the poison, and her leg was slower to recover for it. Kagura was a dancer, her limbs didn't need to just work; walking wasn't good enough, running and crouching and jumping weren't satisfactory. She had to be able to bend, twist, and move. She needed strength and flexibility, and those were things her scarred limb would need time and tender care in order to regain. The muscle had spent too many days split open to heal quickly, but it was healing, and once her chest completely recovered and Kagura could speak and laugh and, sometimes, even cry a little without pain or soreness, it helped the rest of her get better faster.

"You have not said who, or described why." Kanna's black eyes were watching her where they were seated in a field of white flowers, still close to the lake where the void had been revived, and the wind rescued. "You grow angry, but it fades quickly. You seem sad." Kagura's nimble fingers slowed where she had been weaving the long stems of the white flowers into a chain, Kanna's blank gaze following the movements, the mirror-girl providing the next blossom whenever the last stem grew too short.

"It as a mistake." Kagura offered finally, having to stop and think about it again as she had so many times before. The building rage, the irrational accusations. Too weak to have a mate? Was that really what she'd accused him of? But somehow his insults still stung more than her regret, and knowing that he had done for Rin what Kagura had begged for... "Our tempers were raised, everything just became so complicated."

For example... Even if Sesshoumaru had attacked the human girl, what about that was supposed to mean he wasn't just over-compensating and trying to force distance between himself and Rin? Nothing, that was what Kagura had resolved. And until she came up with something, she was content to stay here. Kagura didn't even know where here was; but it was away from the Western Lands, far from Inuyasha's territory, someplace where even the phoenix had not bothered following her...

Which made sense, if she wasn't important to Sesshoumaru anymore, then what value would the fire-bird see in her? Kagura didn't miss the attention, but as she finished tying off the white crown of flowers, she still felt sad over what the absence meant.

"When the Demon Lord marked you..." Ah, of course the glass girl had figured that part out, she was a full demon, just like Kagura. "...did you not lose your freedom?"

"No." She shook her head as Kanna reviewed the weave of the green stems, the girl's solid glass fingers moving gently as she twisted the flower crown. "I chose to be with him, and I've chosen to be apart from him for now. At least until we can figure out what we've done wrong." The marks, they weren't supposed to do this to them, were they? Either something had gone wrong with the ritual or, maybe it was saying they weren't meant for one another? Kagura had a hard time believing that.

How could she have chosen him over the wind if there wasn't something deeper, stronger, pulling them together? Sesshoumaru could say what he wanted when he was angry, he'd still left the Western Lands behind and come after her in the storm. She'd been nothing to him then, just a spectre, a presence, he could have easily ignored her if that was what he'd desired. No one had told him to make love to her, and no one had forced his hand when he marked her either.

"So it isn't like Naraku's scar?" Kanna had been quiet for long enough that Kagura had almost slipped into her own mind again, but the wind-witch pulled herself back into the moment as the mirror spoke to her.

"No, they..." She touched her marks through the green and white of her clothing, pushing through the stiff cloth until she could feel the pressure of her fingertips running over the slashes. "...it's not the same at all."

Whether Kanna truly lost interest in the topic or was feigning interest in her arms was something for the glass girl to know and her sister to never find out. Over the passing weeks Kagura had learned much about her sister's new body and altered powers, from the very slight changes in her black eyes which denoted attention, to the glassy texture of her skin when it became dirtied as it was now. Kanna was a great deal like a certain Demon Lord when it came to betraying emotion, but her sister also required a bit less prodding and encouragement to speak.

Her control over glass was incredible, and it was related to water in a way which Kagura simply could not figure out. The two long hair-pins holding the black strands out of Kagura's face were an example of this: perfectly clear glass Kanna had created from her own yoki mixed with water from the lake, a small flask of the pristine liquid now resting in a glass bottle tucked into the girl's pink obi. It also allowed Kanna the ability to heal, something the mirror had never been capable of during Naraku's time.

Kanna's original body had been created of flesh, but behaved like glass when she suffered her most grievous injuries. Kagura had not known this before, but her sister was more talkative than Sesshoumaru and had volunteered the information without prompting. She _wanted_ to talk about the changes, and the wind-witch wasn't about to discourage her.

Now Kana truly was a mirror: except for her clothing and flowers her body was made of hardened glass, frosted and white and mimicking the texture of real skin. If Kanna chose to, her opaque skin could turn almost completely clear- save for where the light was distorted, the technique even extended to the items on her person. The mirror demon didn't seem sure of what other abilities she had gained, but Kagura was content to let her sister explore glass-work and regeneration. Any other powers would surface in battle, not at ease.

The issue Kanna was experiencing right now was interesting for them both, Kagura accepting the distraction and looking down at where her sister's arm had been stained green by the flowers they were kneeling on. The oils from the stems had soaked through the frosted texture of the glass, turning her both green and clear at the same time. Rising slowly and careful of her still-healing left leg, Kagura smiled down at the smaller demon before drawing one of the smooth grey feathers out of her hair. They had found the quills for Kagura within the same hour that they had tracked down her fan where it had fallen through the trees near the lake's edge. Time had passed since then.

"Shall we go to the lake?" Watching Kanna gather up her mirror and stand up next to her, the crown of flowers resting on her head, her black eyes rose up to the sky for a moment, thinking.

"The sun will set soon." That was true, the sky hadn't begun to grow rosy and orange yet, but it was well past mid-day. "The lake will be cold, and your hair will be wet; you must not become sick." Kagura snorted at the concern, tempted to laugh out-right, but she controlled the reaction and waited for Kanna to offer a better suggestion. There was only one the glass doll could make, but Kagura found herself looking forward to it regardless. "A hot spring would be better."

"It would. Shall we go?"

"Kagura, when will go you back to him?" The question surprised her, because it didn't follow the thread of their conversation. It meant Kanna had been thinking of something else without showing it, another change from her time with Naraku. The mirror-girl wasn't looking at her as she asked the question, but Kagura felt herself smile anyways.

"Soon." A breath of wind plucked the feather out from between Kagura's fingers, carrying with it several small red flower petals, and they were off.

* * *

><p><em>'Found you.'<em> It had taken a long time, and a lot of determination, but when he sensed it in the wind he knew he'd reached his goal. He could hear her song and feel her movements, watching the delicate dance of eddies and gusts that meant she was nearby.

"My lord? Why have we stopped?" He glanced briefly over his shoulder at the servant following him over the wastes, both of them hovering now in the air, suspended by the heat rolling off their backs and gathering at their feet. There was tension in the wind, blood on the land: his kinsmen were suffering, all who fell within the Dog General's grasp were forced to endure a short and torturous existence. It would only be fair to make the beast suffer in return, and if he had no heart for an enemy to strike, then the Lord of the Western Lands would simply have to attack the interloper's pride instead.

"Because there's something I want." The Phoenix Lord felt his body begin to stretch and swell, fire ripping through his skin as he unleashed his true form and allowed his crimson wings to spread wide and cover the sky, blocking the sun. The light of his own flames openly challenged the celestial star for its place in the heavens: he was the Demon Lord Ryokijin, Lord of the Western Lands, he who would challenge the gods of heaven and earth to prove himself.

_'And what I want, I take.'_

* * *

><p>"My lord! My lord that's him!"<p>

Jaken's announcement was unnecessary, the crimson light flared up in the west so high not even the blind could miss it: not when the winds changed and brought with them the distinct burn of heat, the Demon Lord's nose burning with salt and charcoal. The scent was tainted by the wastelands, but he could sense it, he could _imagine_ it.

_'Ryokijin.'_ But not on the attack, the great red storm of fire rose up into the air miles away from Sesshoumaru's position, but it merely continued to climb and then moved off to the north. Avoiding him? Fleeing? Simply not interested?

Wait...

This scent...

"A petal? But Lord Sesshoumaru we haven't passed by any flowers for days, we- _wait!_ M'lord where're you going! ?" Un was there to pick Jaken up and follow as Sesshoumaru launched himself into the sky. He could not allow his eyes to follow the wind-swept path of the red petals that moved past him, the scent was faded with distance but genuine in origin. It was an old gesture, a familiar calling card. It was his first sign of Kagura in over a month but he couldn't waste time thinking about the message or the meaning now.

Not if the wind was blowing south, and the phoenix was flying north.

_'Kagura._'

* * *

><p><strong>FUCK YOU, CONTENT ISSUES.<strong>

**Here's the deal: Sesshoumaru here at the end of chapter 11 was supposed to be the opening of chapter 12, but then 12 picked up some unexpected character development and had to force about four pages worth of plot-driven events onto 13. 13 could handle this, it's a tough little chapter, but I basically broke one continuous (and long as fuck) scene in two to satisfy my 7-page limit/average.**

**This also put 12's cliff-hanger ending into the middle of 13. Cliff-hangers do not work mid-chapter, not unless you're switching story-lines, and I only have one plot, so it _really _doesn't work. There's no gorram suspense in twirling the mouse wheel to read the next paragraph! At least changing chapters can build some anxiety!**

**So Sesshoumaru and Ryokijin get to battle it out for precedence here at the end of 11, and you guys get a rant and a super-sized chapter 12.**

**Read and review guys, read and review!**


	12. I: Night Terrors

**District 9 OST3, Not Strong Enough, for some reason No More Words was there at the end despite... being completely wrong. **

**Sweet Sacrifice, Call Me When You're Sober, Weight of the World, Not Strong Enough, With You (remix).**

**And alright. This chapter is stupid-long because I didn't like how the content was weighed in chapter 13. I like having chapters be a _consistent length_, especially when the stories are completed before publishing, but I'm sorry. The content got away from me and I found I didn't want to cut the extra character development you'll find below. But I've already ranted about this so enough. _Enough._ Bad Sunny!**

**Read up and enjoy.**

* * *

><p><em><strong>To Make Things Right<strong>_

Night Terrors

"You'll stay with us, it's as simple as that." Kanna watched her sister recline back against the smooth rocks protecting the spring, her eyes watching the way the maroon slashes pulled and moved with Kagura's skin as if they were supposed to be there. The younger demon never complained about them, but she was always touching them, rubbing, sometimes pinching, or switching her fingers to touch the marks with both the fronts and backs. Did they change temperature? Kanna could see the energy which came off of them sometimes; green and violent, or blue and cold.

There was a curiosity inside of her that the void could not explain. That there was something _within_ her did not make much sense. But it was not the same bold feeling that so many others described: not like Kagura felt, not how Naraku had mocked, it was different. The sensation was not something inside of Kanna which was encased by her body, it was more like it was woven and mixed in with her arms and skin, tangling with her white hair. It was something on the outside, that was almost inside, and protected the nothing that was truly at the core of her being.

Mirrors did not create image, they reflected them. Was Kanna a warped mirror now? Was she reflecting what was not true? She was alive now, she served no one, she stayed with Kagura.

Did it matter to Kagura if Kanna was a distorted mirror?

Did it matter to Kanna if it mattered to Kagura?

Yes.

Kanna was not a perfect mirror. Did it matter to Kagura?

"Mirrors are not meant to create." She said the words slowly, not carefully, but without any sense of urgency or importance. Seated in the steaming water, Kanna had her arms wrapped around her legs, white knees drawn up to her face and poking out of the pool. "I am not a perfect mirror."

"Broken mirrors aren't good for much." The words caused a stirring as they fell off her sister's lips, and Kanna's black eyes watched Kagura's long finger toy with one of the topaz drops hanging from her pointed ear. Kagura did not wear Naraku's jade earrings anymore, Kanna was still wearing the white crown of flowers Kagura had made in the field.

Kanna was not a perfect mirror. Broken mirrors aren't good for much.

"But that doesn't matter." Kagura's eyes were shut, her words a long drawl as she gesture loosely with one hand, twirling her wrist. Kanna watched her. It did not matter that Kanna was not good for much. It did not matter that Kanna was not good. The stirring became stronger.

More drawling, more casual words.

"You're glass now, not just a mirror. You can make anything, be anything. You're free." Kanna was not just a mirror, Kanna was anything. Kanna was nothing.

Her sister's black hair touched the water as one of the long glass rods was removed from her bun. She watched Kagura start stirring the water with it.

"Bowls, hair pins, bottles... You should make mirrors, not be one. You can make anything out of glass." Kanna should make mirrors, because broken mirrors aren't good for much. Kanna was bowls and hair pins and bottles. Kanna was glass. Kanna can be anything. The stirring stopped, both inside and out.

Kagura started to climb out of the water, her flesh was red from the heat and her left leg was still clumsy, too clumsy for a dancer. Kanna looked back at the water and watched the red light shining off the ripples. She commented.

"The sun is taking long to set."

Her words made Kagura go still. The glass girl looked up at where her sister had finished tying the short silver belt around her blue under-robe; her little sister had just stopped, and she stood frozen for a moment. Then Kagura turned around, and Kanna recognized something trapped between fear and disgust in the wind witch's red eyes.

"Get dressed." Kanna did not understand. "Hurry up, Kanna! Stand up and get dressed!" Kagura abandoned her own clothing to grasp Kanna's bare shoulder, the glass girl turning and climbing out of the water to answer her sister's anxious words. She found her yukata pulled around her shoulders and stopped moving, allowing her body to be clothed like a doll.

"It is a demon." The wind was beginning to pick up, but it was warm wind, too warm for summer. Kagura was still tying the obi around Kanna's waist when the glass doll looked up into the western sky: it was growing brighter, not dimmer. "A powerful Demon Lord." And one... wreathed in fire, the heat was growing stronger. Kanna could hear it.

"Yes, very, now lets go." Looking down from the sky as her sister remained kneeling and drew one of her feathers, Kanna's hand quickly moved to grasp the other demon's wrist. "Kanna-!"

"You will die." The heat and the sound increased quickly, her face and hands aware of the intense temperature without responding to it or feeling distress over the sudden proximity. Through the trees screening them the inferno was already visible, and as the mirror drew her sister in close against her body, hugging Kagura's head to her stomach and bending her shoulders down to protect her- the trees in front of them simultaneously ignited.

Kanna was glass, Kanna could be anything.

The hot water between them and the inferno surged up as Kanna reached for it: a dome of water rising over them like a great wave as the spring was emptied and the contents hardened over the sisters' heads- and then the world turned white and red from the fire. If the glass were clear then it would act like a lens, Kagura would die from the heat, so it was frosted like Kanna's skin- then more so. The glass' skin began rising and crossing to create conduits for the light to travel through as it increased in strength, pockets of glass and air and more glass forming to try and contain the heat, direct it elsewhere, away, not at Kagura.

When the air became excited and caused the pockets to burst, Kanna collapsed them, made the glass thicker. The rocks under their feet began to heat up, sizzling as the ground outside the glass bubble was scorched and heated. Everything was red light, black shadow, and gold highlights. There was no colour, only fire, there was no air, just heat.

It was several long, tense moments before the inferno passed over their heads, until the Demon Lord's wave of destruction was spent and Kanna felt the pressure begin to lessen outside. The air she and Kagura were breathing was hot, her sister was sweating, slowly prying her face out from where she had buried it in Kanna's clothes, waiting for the blaze to pass. Wind Demons should not fear storms, but Kanna said nothing to her little sister, merely stood there, just waited.

"I-Is he gone?"

"The signature is too heavy. I cannot tell." More silence, she heard Kagura swallow loudly in her throat.

"Open it up, I want to see outside." The dancer was shaken on the outside, Kanna did not know what this meant for Kagura on the inside. She was still in a state of undress: only her blue robe clinging to her body, the sheer material sticking to her skin where she had begun to sweat, or not had a chance to dry off from their bath. Kagura was wearing her earrings, but only one hair pin as she stood up. She was clutching the fabric close around her sides as she started looking around and asked to feel the air.

Had her fan survived? It had been close by. Her gown was crafted from demonic silk, would it restore itself or was it gone?

The glass cracked over-head and split apart slowly like a piece of ripe fruit, fingers of glass reaching for one another as hot, dry air spilled inside to meet with the intense humidity Kanna had protected. It gave the illusion that the ash-clouded air was cooler, but it was simply dry.

At first it was nothing but ash and smoke, like a terrible morning fog that had washed over everything. The world beyond their shelter formed slowly. Posts of charcoal, the remains of trees, formed first from the destruction like the discarded swords of fallen soldiers. Most of the trees had exploded from the intense heat, but around them, through the smoke, some were still burning, nightmarish pyres standing upright as night fell. They were the only real source of light now that the sun was gone.

The water was gone too. Kanna had drained most of it to make glass, but even beyond their one spring she knew the rest had gone too. The ground was black, ashes beginning to settle over everything, Kanna felt herself turning grey in the night.

"It'll be okay." She did not comprehend Kagura's statement until she saw her sister holding the charred length of her white gown. The bottom was torn and burned away on an angle, one sleeve missing and a line of black following the inside edge that crossed over the breast, but Kagura pulled the garment on anyways. It would repair itself if kept near her, Kanna understood that much.

Stepping over still-burning branches and shattered stones, Kanna located her sister's green bodice while Kagura checked her fan where it had lain under the white gown. Her sister was shaken, Kanna bringing the garment over to her slowly and holding it out for Kagura to slowly pull on, her sash taking a few minutes to find in the dark.

When she looked at the dancer's red eyes, they were too red. One of her hands was resting over her chest, rubbing the skin tensely and only stopping for the time it took her to loosely bind the long black sash around her waist. Kagura didn't even tie the knot properly.

"It's how he conquered the Western Lands. He just destroyed everything." It was not the same Demon Lord, this gave the glass girl a stirring, a strengthening in her limbs. Picking her mirror up off the black ground, Kanna felt the metal humming with heat, but just held it between her palms until it cooled, then rested its back against her stomach comfortably, where it belonged.

"He flew towards the lake." Kagura's eyes were helpless. Kanna neither recognized nor enjoyed seeing such an alien expression on her sister's face. "There is no more lake." Kagura didn't answer her, just looked down at the black earth and the falling ash.

There was no more lake. The great mirror was gone, the mirror which had repaired her mirror no longer existed. It was broken, an empty frame. Broken mirrors aren't good for much. Lifting hers, Kanna looked down into the reflection saw herself. The mirror reflected her as she was, it did not alter or re-create her ash-stained skin or black eyes. It showed her the metal blade flash in the firelight before it cut her, and though she felt no pain in her glass body, Kanna heard Kagura scream.

And she was scared.

* * *

><p>"<em>Kanna!"<em> The blade struck from the smoke around them and, for a moment, Kagura mistook it for a sword. Her fan was out and the wind swept down the damaged wooden fingers to loop around Kanna; blasting away the settling ash and hanging smoke so she could see their attacker. She should not have been surprised.

"Kagura-" Kanna's white shoulder was cracked, the black lines spreading down her back where the blade of the naginata had struck her. The glass child didn't look like she was in pain, not physically, but Kagura didn't care- she launched herself forward with an enraged yell, the wind howling down around her and forming a blunt hammer of air to drive the phoenix back- perhaps even into the air.

"At last I hear your name, _Kagura_." The only thing which differed in Ryokijin's appearance was was the weapon in his hand as the tall Demon Lord jumped back. The naginata was a long staff with a wooden handle, decorated with gold twisting around the entire length, forming a spiralling nest around the short guard surrounding the base of the weapon's head. The metal blade attached to the end was curved like a katana, but only half as long. He was holding the weapon at a resting position, the cutting head angled down towards the ground as the staff's body was held back and behind him slightly, resting, but wary. "Such a beautiful sound..."

"_Shut up!_" She screamed, unable to hold down the volume as she felt the red of her eyes bleeding out across the whites. "How dare you attack me again you wretched bird- you _coward!_" Attacking in the night, targeting children, harming Kanna- how dare he! ? And he was still alive! Kagura wasn't about to run away again, not now! If she fled on her feather with Kanna then they wouldn't be able to get away, and if she ran off into the wind she would leave her sister behind. To hell with Sesshoumaru's pride: if he didn't want to kill the phoenix then Kagura would just have to do it herself!

"I will gladly dance with you tonight..." Ryokijin's blue eyes went cold in a way that bellied the heat that began pouring down off the Demon Lord's body, his patterned white sleeves fluttering in the hot air, the dark red pants hiding his ankles swaying ominously as the tail of his red hair began to whip and lash about behind his head. "And then destroy that gross puppet hiding behind you- some toy from your lover? A cold little companion to remind you of him?"

"_There are more."_ Kagura had moved to put herself between the Phoenix Lord and Kanna, feeling the mirror-girl's small hand grasp and tug on the blackened side of her white gown as he taunted her. Kanna's soft-spoken warning was enough to pull the wind-witch's enraged gaze up off the phoenix's empowered figure. Four- five? At least six more demons, each one far less powerful than their lord, were hovering about, hiding in the smoke and destruction.

Kagura twisted her hand and held her fan out to the side, her leg hurting before she even began to move. She shifted her weight onto her right and worked from the shoulder instead of all the way down from her hip: the fan danced and the wind answered. It came pouring down from above and blasted a hole in the smoke, spreading and swirling like the eye of a small storm to blow away the ash and increase the visible field. Her gesture caused laughter, and the hiding birds simply took off deeper into the smoke. They wanted to make this a game of hide-and-seek? Fine.

"You were the first." Kanna could defend herself, the glass girl was already drawing water out of the small flask at her side, the deep scar in her shoulder and body pulling together seamlessly.

"The first?" Ryokijin repeated, misunderstanding her words. Did he think she was talking to him?

"Shut up!" Kagura pulled herself into the wind and the world went side-ways. The moving air she had already called down was still present, joining with her as Kagura sped straight at the Phoenix Lord- his staff already swinging up to a ready position. When he swung it a tail of gold light followed the movements, making the slashes and deflections last longer in the air, something to foil an armed opponent.

Kagura simply split herself around the two rotating slashes that tried to cut through her wind, dancing without limbs or body to reform properly well-within the circle of the staff. Her hand was held palm out, fingers spread and facing the back of his neck, and thin arcs of wind moved with deadly speed to try and puncture his throat from the sides as she closed her fingers, her right foot up and braced on his back so she could shove off just as he started turning to attack her.

He escaped the impaling winds by falling back with the kick, Kagura lifting herself feet-first into the air, legs straight together and ankles crossed like she was performing a turn on the floor. Her fan's green edge flashed and twisted several times past her face, the wind weaving over itself to counter and dispel the blast of fire he sent up after her.

Her opponent immediately took up into the air in pursuit, Kagura pulling her arms in tight as she twisted away from him. Blades of wind flashed off the fan and tried to slice into his torso, only to be deflected by the staff's spinning head. When she came back down onto the black ground Kagura landed on her left out of habit and suffered the painful tremor that shot up her leg. Fully healed? No, maybe not, but she just clenched her teeth against the pain.

The phoenix swooped down at her so fast Kagura had to use her bad leg again to twist out of the way; the heat he was giving off singed her cheek when she failed to move quickly enough, the side of her face going red from the intensity. His sandalled foot struck the ground to stop his momentum and Ryokijin spun around to face her; palm out as a wall of flame erupted from his arm and skin. The way it built and travelled down towards her reminded Kagura briefly of another attack: a dragon made of blue lightning, but the name escaped her as she countered with a strong column of solid, fast-moving air. She tore apart the incoming vortex from the inside, ignoring the deep burn left across the ground from the attack: she saw something more important.

"Your grace is compromised-" Ryokijin's eyes were not just cold, the blue had grown to consume them entirely. A fire bird with blue power?

"_Just_ _shut up!_" The place where her aura was beginning to grind against his, the clash extending beyond wind and air, more than fan and blade. She had seen it against Sesshoumaru, she was seeing it now with Ryokijin: the meeting of demonic winds, that corrosive border that could be exploited if timed right. So what if Tetseiga could cut through the demonic aura of even the most pathetic spectres and ghosts? Kagura didn't need that sort of over-kill. If it only appeared when facing Demon Lords, then she would only use it against Demon Lords!

"Who injured you?"

"_I said-!"_ _Kaze no kizu:_ the wind scar, the unleashing of energy built up by two or more demonic opponents on the battlefield. Kagura slashed her fan through the air and directed the thin blade straight into the chaotic heart of the winds they were both driving. It turned all the excess energy stifling the air into one tangible attack, gathering and releasing it in one blinding explosion of light and sound. Through the glare Kagura saw the shocked expression on the Phoenix's face before his defending form was broken by the wind, a thick black scar carving its way into the charred ground and blasting the Demon Lord down to dust. She did not need the four or five devastating blades of Tetseiga; one was good enough for now.

"Kanna!" Her leg was beginning to throb despite the adrenaline, Kagura taking to the air in a leap as she sped back across the burnt landscape to where she had left the mirror-girl. She stopped when she saw her sister standing with her eyes closed, her mirror held calmly against her chest and stomach with the reflective surface exposed. As Kagura came closer, she saw the faces of at least two different bird demons cycle across the mirror's surface. There were shrieks and confused yells overhead in the ash that meant the possessed bodies of Ryokijin's bold followers were doing the job of defending Kanna- but her sister had been injured again, one of her legs was cracked.

"Lets go!" Pulling a feather from her hair as she ran again, Kagura tossed the grey quill into the air and quickly climbed on as it spread and grew. Kanna opened her eyes and followed with just enough speed to let the wind witch know she was hurrying.

Ryokijin wouldn't remain dead for long, not with all of this ash, and that meant they couldn't remain here either. As soon as Kanna was on the feather they took off straight into the sky; Kagura steadying her sister as her balance wasn't quite settled. Kanna held on to her wrist tightly before the feather stopped shaking, soaring up until it broke through the clouds of smoke and ash and then went off in whichever direction the wind was already blowing.

Kagura hated the sensation of the thick, chalky substance clinging to her skin, the ash invading her loose and damaged clothing. But there was nothing for it now, she just urged the wind for speed. Kagura had spent a month free of Ryokijin's unwanted presence, and her time had just run out.

Her leg was throbbing, her face hurt, but otherwise they were almost unscathed. It was good that Kanna had retained her penchant for capturing souls. The two didn't share any words until Kagura was able to look down through the air and see green again: the night was dark and growing colder around them, but it was a relief after the heat of Ryokijin's inferno.

"He has revived, the souls have perished from the mirror." Trying not to glance back over her shoulder at Kanna, the loss of the spirits meant that their bodies had been killed. Maybe it wasn't the Phoenix Lord though, not yet. Maybe their companions had just steeled themselves and killed their former friends. The two of them flew on, racing the moon across the sky as she lost track of time. It wasn't the Phoenix Lord.

Kagura was able to convince herself of this right up until a flaming naginata sliced her feather in two: a blast of heat throwing her into the wind and causing her body to twist and spiral wildly.

She found herself falling only long enough for the sensation to settle in her mind and her anger to rise. Kagura had no fear of falling, or of hitting the ground: she was the wind, she could not be in danger when surrounded by it!

But Kanna could- and the wind-witch's body twisted instinctively, splitting apart and spinning as the wind to regain control. She sped in a wide arc so she could grasp the glass doll's wrist, pulling herself back together and yanking the other demon into her arms as they fell. Kagura shut her eyes because she had to force the wind to answer her, arms locked around Kanna's torso: it was not easy to fly with a heavy body, let alone carrying a second one made of thick glass. If Kanna hit the ground, would she shatter?

The fear that came with the thought was a shock to her system, but they were still spiralling down through the air and Kagura made her element obey. Their direction changed and the roar of the wind carried the sisters up through a wide dive until they started to level out. Land, they had to find their way down to-

"_Gotcha!_"

Kagura almost choked when a hand grasped the back of her collar and pulled the fabric tight across her throat. The wind was overcome by the heat surrounding the phoenix, and Kagura's wide eyes watched the forest and the night sky blur together in terror before the swing was completed and she found herself screaming down out of the sky- her hold on Kanna reduced to her nails clutching the girl's clothes.

Her back struck something- a mountain, a hill, a cliff, she didn't know. It was hard and made of earth, pieces of it shearing off as she cut across the face of the rock at a shallow angle. Kanna was still clutched protectively to her chest as they fell and landed in a heavy pile of rocks and sand. Kagura didn't even have a moment to take in what her injuries might have been before her sister was up and trying to pull her to her feet. Adrenaline forced the pain away, but not the fear as she saw red light begin to build and reflect off Kanna's glass face.

"Run, Kanna!" Half-standing, Kagura's hands came together as the wind frantically drew itself in and turned with her, puncturing the incoming stream of fire and splitting it apart. She was tired, unable to see where the Phoenix Lord was after the bright glare of the flames, but Kagura just spun around again and chased the sound of Kanna's glass footsteps. She could just make out her sister's white back when an arc of violent red energy cut across her path and caused the entire cliff-side to shake and tremble.

Her vision cleared enough to show her where they were: to her right was a sheer cliff rising up into the sky, to her left a steep incline that vanished down into the trees far below. Kagura saw her sister stop and turn as the crimson yoki blasted apart the rock between them. The entire section of land where Kanna was standing lurched before beginning to crumble and slide down into the night. The wind rushed past her and Kagura was going to jump, ready to pull herself into the wind and follow- her sore body was just beginning to twist and transform when a heavy fist collided with her burnt cheek.

Her world was an explosion of red dots and deafening noise as Kagura found herself slammed against the cliff again, a heavy hand locking in place around her throat. His skin was hot, his grasp tight enough to bruise her throat. She opened her eyes and saw the phoenix's burning blue ones boring into her.

"How much longer are you going to allow yourself to be enslaved by that pretender?" He wasn't watching her face, his eyes were lower than that. Kagura's hand grasped his wrist, trying to fight off the strangling hold as she kicked him to no effect. The naginata was either dropped or had vanished, and the red-haired phoenix reached up for the collar of her loose and dishevelled gowns, prying the front open- _bastard!_ "Are you waiting for someone to carve him out of your flesh? Is that what it will take?"

Kagura didn't _need_ claws, she felt his eyes on her marked chest and her hand instinctively slashed at his face. Wind followed her nails and blasted him back after the edge of one made contact with and scratched a blue eye. It wasn't enough to gouge the jelly out of his skull, but the combination made the phoenix release her with an enraged yell.

Her bare feet hit the stony ground and Kagura ran, ignoring the intense pain under her jaw where his talons had begun to dig and bite into her skin. Just breathe, that was all she had to do to make herself run. Don't pay attention to the pain in your leg, just make your hip obey: run.

Kagura jumped as she reached the fresh cliff, the rubble still settling and crackling with the residual effects of Ryokijin's attack. She didn't care that she couldn't see the bottom, didn't hesitate before throwing herself into the darkness: the only thing Kagura had to worry about was the pain that bit into her right shoulder just as she reached the peak of her jump. Her clothing was enchanted, and despite failing her once against Sesshoumaru- the spider-silk unable to repel his acidic whip -the magic held this time as the naginata's blade cut down her back. The blade was only able to harm her shoulder: the place where the entire edge was given a chance to rip into the green and white. Her back was fine, and she could ignore the shallow bleeding from her shoulder as she dropped into the trees.

Kagura's feet skipped and skimmed down over the rubble from the slide, welts opening up between her toes and along her soles as the sharp rocks cut her, but the dancer made herself ignore the pain: keep running, find Kanna. She could smell water, hear the trickle and murmur of a large steady flow even if she couldn't see it yet in the darkness. Kagura knew better than to shout her sister's name, there was heat building up at the top of the cliff and she wasn't going to tell Ryokijin where to aim.

_'There!'_ Something white in the darkness, a silver head of hair moving weakly trying to pry the rest of its body out from under the settling debris. Kagura fell to her knees once she was close enough to get Kanna's attention. One of the doll's black eyes had been turned a pale blue by the fine cracks running down her face. Her injuries were more severe than Kagura's, and only one of her arms and her head were free.

"My mirror..." Shh, Kanna, don't speak! Her sister's voice was as soft and calm as ever, but there was an urgent tug under the rubble that meant the glass demon was trying to move her other arm- was her mirror safe under her body? Kagura started digging her hands into the rocks, ripping at the sharp stones and handfuls of silt and grit as she tried to uncover the rest of her sister. Kanna wasn't in pain, but she couldn't move- and Kagura couldn't leave her. "Sister-"

She heard footsteps running down the cliff and rose to flee, got up just get out of the way of the next blast of fire- but she set her weight wrong and Kagura's left leg gave a violent tremor and dropped her down into a crouch instead. She looked up as the darkness was burned away by familiar gold fire.

Kagura's hand flew to her side just before the flames struck her, powered along with all the fury of the east wind and blasting her through the air. She realized _now_ she hadn't looked for Eurus' rod after the devastating inferno: recognizing the familiar sound and feel of the heat as it torched her skin and burnt her hair.

Kagura's gowns were smoking as she struck the ground several yards away from where she'd been kneeling in front of Kanna, red eyes wide and limbs paralysed by the crippling heat. She could hear the rocks under her body hissing as they touched her clothes and skin, blood and burn causing her skin to become slick and sticky. She didn't want to know how bad it was, how bad all of it was, she just knew she was closer to the water and started to crawl. Kagura was not going to die, she was going to get into the water and she would figure something out from there; just get into the water, Kagura.

She felt her injured body slide across cold wet stones, but as soon as her injured hand touched the frigid edge of the river Kagura felt a hard wooden sandal slam down on her spine. A gasp of pain ripped its way past her lips and she shut her eyes as her body gave a spasm, but all she could do after that was call the wind down to blow past them both. Escape- meld into the wind and-

Ryokijin answered the wind with a wall of heat that built and settled over her, evaporating the water off the stones under Kagura's chest and torso and disturbing her winds as they tried to grasp her. The air became erratic, then went still as her reserves were exhausted. Kagura could do no more.

"A half-mated woman, crippled by her lover." H-Half-mated? "Tell me what that says about him. A Demon Lord who abandoned his lands and can't even convince a powerful demoness to be his mate." Was he calling her weak then? _Fine!_ Kagura braced her hands against the hot ground, hearing the Demon Lord's knee touch the stones behind her as the weight on her back increased: he was kneeling on her, putting his weight on that foot lodged in her spine.

"_He'll kill you._" Even if Ryokijin let her go, _especially _if he didn't, this time Sesshoumaru would kill him- wouldn't he? It felt like a weak hope and Kagura wanted to scream at the doubt worming into her heart, but the poison crept in regardless. "He'll kill you, he'll make you pay!" Why had it still not happened? She shouldn't have had to tell Sesshoumaru to kill the bird, she shouldn't have had to confront him with it. Sesshoumaru should have smelt him on her the first time and there, from the beginning, gone and destroyed the Phoenix Lord. Kagura shouldn't have had to wait, she shouldn't _still_ be waiting-

_'If I was Rin, he-'_ The traitorous thought didn't get a chance to finish, Kagura wincing as the phoenix's hooked talons scraped her skull and grasped a thick handful of her singed hair. Her neck was bent back and her shoulders screamed in protest, her body forced to curl back on itself as Ryokijin's lips hovered against one pointed ear. Her hands were still pushing against the ground, but it wasn't doing any good for the pain; he was pulling too far.

"Why do you defend what you haven't chosen, fair, beautiful Kagura?" His voice came down to a dry husk, the smell of him slowly rising through the heat and char of her own injuries, the musk curling around her like steam. She felt his talons graze the side of her burnt throat, rising up along the skin and tracing her jaw. "Why love what does not love you?" His hand bumped the drops of topaz hanging from her ear.

"_I will never tell you that I love you, Kagura."_ She remembered those words, that vow spoken in such a cold, harsh voice. She heard it again and then felt the talons leave her throat, recognizing the phoenix's intentions only when she felt the tension on her ear. She shut her eyes tight but it didn't help control her reaction as the lobe was torn.

Compared to everything else it was a small pain to have the earring ripped out, compared to her shoulders, her feet, her chest, her burns, one small cut was not devastating. But it was like breaking fingers, like cutting skin: a small enough pain to anticipate, and anticipation only made it worse. Feeling a little bit of dark blood dribble down her neck was only a little bit of pain, but watching her earring fly through the air and vanish into the flowing water _hurt_.

_It hurt._ Where was he?

"I can feel your doubt..." No, she didn't want to doubt him- "I can taste the regret..." She hadn't felt the tears stinging her until her neck was forced to twist and a thin dry tongue scraped her inflamed cheek, catching the salty bead that had bled down from her eye. She couldn't breathe- she wasn't going to cry, but every breath was short and laboured, she couldn't get away.

The hold on her hair vanished as his other hand moved and grasped her chin. His palm was flat against the curve of her throat, using that to keep her up and squeeze her airway even more. Kagura immediately let her weight drop, aware of the pain that surged up her bent neck and bruised spine, but she was trying to keep away from the heat coming through his clothes.

The Phoenix Lord just gave a deep chuckle behind her, his foot finally moving off her back but settling on the ground next to her, his legs straddling her waist so she couldn't get up or crawl away. It made his hold less painful but the sweltering heat covering her just got worse; the stink of his body was too sweet for her nose but it invaded her clothes regardless. She hated her heart for beating faster, was disgusted with the deep throb that started up in her abdomen. Kagura hated it. Hated him. Hated them.

_Them:_ Sesshoumaru and Ryokijin. In that moment she hated them both.

"_It's not too late to change your mind..."_ That husky voice drawled against her cheek, his face moving around her head until his sharp teeth caught the delicate point of her other ear: the one not bleeding from his abuse. "_Come, choose the better master..._" With one palm holding her throat, Ryokijin's other hand slipped down her exposed marks, his curved talons taking liberties Kagura resented; his fingers exploring under her clothes, grasping and tugging until the wind witch reacted.

"I have no _master-!_" The words were black as they left her mouth, her abused body protesting as she tried shifting her weight despite him pressing down on her. Kagura threw her burnt right elbow up as she twisted and made to strike him with her sleeveless arm. The act was defiant but weak, her injured shoulder screaming as she forced it to move. She only managed to roll because he moved enough to let it happen, his offensive hand shoving down on her chest as the horrible tension was finally removed from her sore back and pummelled shoulders.

Now she was looking up at him, her hands both up and pressed against his chest where the red-haired demon was leaning down over her. His palm was still firmly planted between her breasts, talons threatening her skin where she felt the sharp points digging into her flesh. His blue eyes were glowing again, shining down on Kagura with open lust and a sick sense of pleasure that she was almost afraid of. Almost, until his aura increased in strength again and she found her arms too heavy to lift. He just pushed them away with one hand; her limbs physically restrained by the heat and pinned down on the rocks. She couldn't move.

"You will when I'm done with you." _Now_ she was afraid. It started from the crown of her head and washed down her exposed and tormented body like ice water; every pain was sharper, every bruise went deeper, the weight on her stomach became unbearable and the smell of him was suffocating. Fear. Raw, bone-chilling fear was her only option, the last thing she had left to feel. It was so strong as his hips slid down over hers that she couldn't close her eyes, it was so strong that she-

_Crack!_

-she, didn't even know what that was.

* * *

><p><strong>See? That didn't deserve to get split in two.<strong>

**And I don't care if people guess what happens next, I've tricked you guys a couple of times already so NEHEHEHE. The next three updates are probably my favourite though, I'm just sad that I'm running low on completed chapters.**


	13. I: Clash of Lords

**With You (Remix), Not Strong Enough, Shout (Cover), Sweet Sacrifice, Call Me When You're Sober, Weight of the World, The Only One. I think some of the Fast Inuyasha playlist? I deleted this AN by accident and didn't notice for a few days...**

**I think this is my favourite chapter, so I'm obligated to ask that _whatever_ your music preferences, please pick something angry and rock-ish while you read this! xD I personally find it also reads well if you continuously have the characters scream _"FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK-"_ for the entire chapter. But that could just be me.**

**PLEASE enjoy.**

* * *

><p><em><strong>To Make Things Right<strong>_

Clash of Lords

"_I have no master-!"_

His mind could not comprehend the situation. That was not to say that he did not understand the events as he followed the different scents and arrived at the riverbank, because he did. Save for the agonizing minutes where he had lost her scent under the ash and smoke of the incinerated countryside, Sesshoumaru's sense of smell had painted a very vivid image of everything that had occurred hours, minutes, _seconds_ ahead of his arrival. Logically he understood what he was seeing: the Phoenix Lord was attempting to rape the Dog General's chosen mate.

"_You will when I'm done with you."_

But his mind could not properly comprehend what he was seeing: Ryokijin was attempting to rape Kagura, Sesshoumaru's _wife._

_Crack!_

The phrase to describe his grip on Tenseiga was white-knuckle, but that felt inadequate. His hold on the compassionate blade was the only thing keeping every wildly violent instinct in Sesshoumaru's blood from seizing control of his body and rampaging. Tenseiga could not keep him _calm_, but it argued him away from Bakusaiga- the killing sword was going wild at his side and would kill Kagura if it meant there was a chance at taking the Pheonix Lord out with her.

A punch could not go awry and kill his woman, a punch would be the skin-on-skin contact to begin satisfying his revenge. Blood vessels bursting under his knuckles, bones shattering with the force of his arm, surprise and outrage bleeding with uncontrolled lust to obliterate his prey's focus. Ryokijin was physically launched off Kagura's prone form, the storm of the phoenix's yoki vanishing as Sesshoumaru's aura surged violently to destroy the rival field of influence.

He did not look at Kagura as she rolled onto her side under him, coughing, because one of them would die if he had to look down on Ryokijin's work up-close like this. Her scent was unavoidable and the blood and distress frayed Tenseiga's hold on his satanic rage: his eyes struggling against the influences of his burning red blood. Tenseiga was throbbing in time with his heart trying to keep his mind clear, Bakusaiga screaming at him, raging to bring the fog of war up over his thoughts and send him head-long into battle.

"And the lover catches up." The phoenix's arm was steaming where the other Demon Lord stood up at the edge of the swiftly moving water- had he touched the river? Sesshoumaru could barely hear the question in his own mind over Bakusaiga's railing. Ryokijin baited him with another string of words, but Sesshoumaru literally could not _hear_ him.

His left hand shifted from Tenseiga to Bakusaiga and white energy exploded out from his shoulders and back. Kagura was spared from any negative effects beyond the blinding glare by virtue of Sesshoumaru standing over her, the night banished for several long moments as he pulled the sheathed sword out from where it was resting against his side. Bakusaiga pulsed in outrage as he tossed the weapon down to Kagura, the white blast fading as soon as his touch left the killing sword.

_'You and I are one, Bakusaiga.'_ A sword forged from his lost left arm. The first blood it had gorged itself on had been his. _'Protect our mate, or I will never wield you again.'_

Without the sword his mind cleared, his anger crystallizing as Tenseiga continued to beat at his side. Sesshoumaru knew what he had seen, understood what it had meant, but he did not need swords to fix it.

"You're the one who has been butchering my kin." _This_ was the coward who chose to follow his woman rather than face Sesshoumaru himself. Rage could not justify speaking to such a lesser creature, even if Ryokijin's aura at this range did possess all the proper markers to indicate a true Demon Lord.

_'I will kill him with my bare hands.' _

Sesshoumaru moved first, not wasting time as his anger gave him the extra speed to blur across the distance between them, his left arm pulled back and claws ready as he slashed forward. The toxins left a green after-image hanging in the dark air where Ryokijin had stood, the fire-bird jumping straight up to dodge before a plume of red fire shot down at Sesshoumaru's head. He stepped around it, water splashing his ankle as he moved over the uneven stones, then jumped again to catch his opponent in the leg with another slash.

This time he cut fabric. Frustration welled but he crushed it. Give nothing, permit nothing: he would not strengthen his opponent's resolve by reacting.

They both touched down on the river-bank, backs to one another for a beat. The entire exchange had only taken a moment, ending fast enough that by the time they moved again Kagura had only just closed her hand around Bakusaiga.

The phoenix's energies rearranged themselves and Sesshoumaru turned with his right hand out; the electric green of his whip slashing through the air before meeting the enchanted wooden body of Ryokijin's staff. The Dog General had seen naginata used by the Phoenix Clan before, though why their lord chose to use such a cowardly weapon was beyond him. Pole-arms were meant for killing opponents from a distance, by not allowing them in close enough to strike. Pole-arms were for those too afraid to look their opponents in the eye. The red-haired demon threw himself into the air, staff spinning in a blur over his head, and aimed a slash of intense heat and gold light down at where Sesshoumaru was standing.

"Coward." He didn't move until he saw the bead of triumph in Ryokijin's blue eyes, the satisfaction any warrior felt when scoring a hit on an opponent. It was doubtful that the bird even heard him, but Sesshoumaru didn't care, his form simply ceasing to exist where the phoenix had aimed as he moved again. _Faster._

He went forward and then up, kicking himself backwards and slamming his back and left shoulder into the fire bird's back. The spikes on his pauldron cut into the other demon's patterned clothes, the blunt attack followed through with a turn that raked his acidic claws across Ryokijin's unarmoured side. But the bird turned with him; the bladless end of the naginata twisting around and slamming into the black armour over Sesshoumaru's gut. The blow forced him back and down through the air, and the speed of the staff was put to use as he saw the flaming blade come around and up in a sweep meant to catch him from below.

Rolling to his right through the air to get out of the way, the naginata's head bit into his armour a second time and unleashed a burst of gold flame, Tenseiga responding to the assault by reigning in his temper and the snarl that almost rippled from his chest. The fire was quenched with a burst of white down his back, his armour resonating with the double-impact as Sesshoumaru followed through with his roll and brought his right hand up with another sweep of his claws.

Ryokijin's predatory grin threatened his patience a second time, the phoenix only moving just enough to avoid the line of the slash before the naginata's wider range came into effect again and cut across the length of Sesshoumaru's arm. The strike was aimed for his throat and Sesshoumaru dropped only a foot in the air to avoid it; powering up and forward with claws extended and aimed for the phoenix's chest.

He was distracted by something hanging at the other demon's waist, and that break in focus allowed Ryokijin's fist to power down onto the General's head. Falling, Sesshoumaru twisted his body around and lashed out with his other hand. Half-blinded by the burst of red dots that crossed his vision, instinct guided his whip as the agile length coiled around the phoenix's ankle and yanked him down out of the air.

Ryokijin managed to land in a crouch, one knee down and his staff held up in front of him defensively, a bitter snarl on the bird's face, but Sesshoumaru controlled his fall better. The Dog General slammed his foot down on the naginata's red handle between the Phoenix Lord's hands as he came down, trying to break the weapon as he bent down and swiped at Ryokijin's eyes with his claws. Blood burst out from the wound he cut across the phoenix's temple, but the bird's sight remained unharmed.

Sesshoumaru lost his balance as the staff was dropped in outrage, fire spilling past the phoenix's lips as he stretched his mouth wide open and unleashed a mixture of fire and sound. The frequency was painful to endure, but far from deafening as Ryokijin launched himself from a crouch into a lunge; his talons growing long and curved, seeking blood.

They found wrought iron instead, Sesshoumaru backing up enough that the phoenix's talons scraped his armoured chest and left four hot welts in the metal. The General only retreated far enough to get his balance back, the phoenix's lunge ending and Sesshoumaru launching his own attack. He drove his fist into the dry river-rocks where the bird had been before rolling out of the way towards land.

And again, they lunged at each other, claws and talons tangling as he found himself almost nose-to-nose with the phoenix, both of them hunched and pushing where their hands were caught against each others palms. Sesshoumaru growled as pain bloomed from the backs of his hands: Ryokijin's yellow talons driving straight through the backs and threatening to come out the front. The Dog General answered with his own sharp claws; slicing through skin and pumped toxic acid into the phoenix's blood.

His world started to go crimson and Sesshoumaru didn't fight to control the transformation, his demon blood rising up to the challenge. Tenseiga allowed his temper to start bleeding through and give him strength: tactics weren't winning, he needed strength to answer the heat Ryokijin was summoning out of his skin.

"_I'll deliver your head to your honourable mother-_" The phoenix hissed, his blue eyes wild and his tightly bound hair flailing and lashing around in the energy-soaked air. But his lust wasn't forgotten, the rage of being interrupted forcing Sesshoumaru's feet to slide and give up a few inches as he was pushed. "_After I humiliate you in front of your own whore!_"

From several yards downstream, Bakusaiga's reaction was still tangible.

"_Wife._" Sesshoumaru let his arms give and pushed forward with his legs, Ryokijin's balance thrown before the Dog General's crescent-moon collided with the metal-studded band and crimson pattern looping the Phoenix Lord's forehead. The metal bit into his pale skin, but the real damage was done to his opponent; the skin splitting open and the shock and pain of the strike mingling to stun the bird.

With Ryokijin's slack grip Sesshoumaru pulled his own bleeding hands free, his left carving across the bird's right eye and digging in, gouging out the soft tissue and gum before his other hand came around. He grabbed at the patterned collar of the phoenix's clothes; claws going further and gouging the back and front of the Phoenix Lord's neck, drawing blood and scarring tissue with his acidic touch. Twisting his body for more power, Sesshoumaru lifted and slammed his rival down into the pebbled ground at his feet.

The phoenix's body contorted and steamed as he landed on a patch of wet, Sesshoumaru reaching to grab him again- this time by the leg, and toss him into the river. Tenseiga was pulsing and asking to be drawn, but he ignored the compassionate blade; he was going to do this himself, his way, with _his-_

_-fire!_

Sesshoumaru's heels dug into the ground and sent him back an instant before a gout of gold flame erupted from Eurus' rod, the relic grasped in the pheonix's crippled hand. The stream was sudden and brief, but the pause enough for the other Demon Lord to find his feet again as Sesshoumaru snarled and clenched his lengthening teeth. The flames of the Eastern Wind didn't burn like normal fire, the Phoenix admiring the plume despite his missing eye and tortured face.

"_That is not yours._" This time, when this fight was over and Ryokijin was dead, Sesshoumaru was going to destroy that _infernal rod once and for all!_

"It is now. And so is-" The Dog General felt himself catch on a moment too late, stunned for an instant when the Phoenix Lord turned his back and started running- then he understood why. Roaring in outrage Sesshoumaru took off after him- how dare that coward run away! How dare he bring a woman into their fight!_ How dare he! ?_

"_Coward!_" Sesshoumaru felt his temper run wild and Tenseiga rage at his side; its compassion spent as it melded into his body and the Dog General let the cold lightning and intense heat of his fury transform his physical self. His face morphed and his skin went white; his entire body awake and alive as his minor wounds closed and his true form slammed its paws into the river-bed, still in pursuit.

Kagura and Bakusaiga were in the water, his mate out in the middle of the shallow river and his sword held close under one of her wounded arms. Too weak to fly away, that was the only explanation his clouded mind could make as he saw Ryokijin's agile form take air and head for her- Kagura looking up and quickly starting to wade and flounder to get away from him. She even dove under the water, and Sesshoumaru emptied his lungs with an outraged bellow as his massive body crashed through the shallow flow and unleashed a blast of toxic gas at Ryokijin's back.

The phoenix turned and countered with more fire, his expression not the Dog General's concern as that bladed staff had somehow reformed in his hands, Eurus' traitorous momento returning to the bird's side. He didn't care, he just powered through the heat, closed his jaws around the tiny human body and crushed it. He expected the gush of heat and flame that the kill brought, and was completely unconcerned when he felt his fur momentarily catch fire, sheer will snuffing out the effects.

When the phoenix rebirthed he echoed Sesshoumaru's transformation and took to the sky as a plume of flame. Red, gold and yellow rose up into the night sky and the Dog General took chase, watching crimson wings as long as his own body formed out of a manifestation of power and emotion. A tail of several violent shades of red grew behind the slender, muscled body of the proper phoenix, its short neck and small head both crowned with an elaborate growth of feathers. Feathers of so many different lengths and each burning hot, steam came shooting up from the river and trees on both banks erupted into flame at his presence.

In human bodies they had been nearly equal in speed, but like this it was clear that there was no contest. Sesshoumaru felt his skin burn and fur heat up beyond his tolerance, but the phoenix could hardly turn in the air; his massive wings catching so much wind that the great hound simply swerved and twisted to get through the dozens of available openings. But he wanted the neck, he wanted to force his fangs through the phoenix's spine and take intense satisfaction with feeling the heart weaken and the soul die.

His paws burned black as he out-flew Ryokijin and claimed the advantage of height, slamming himself down on the bird's shoulders trying to snap the wings. They refused to give, but he raked his claws down into the searing flesh instead and the bird screamed in outrage.

_'I will defend what is mine.'_ Ryokijin's slow turn caused his wing to catch Sesshoumaru fully along his left side, fur and skin burning freely as he roared and twisted back. He flew low only until he was clear of the wing and then came up again from the front this time. Ryokijin's taloned feet rose to rip into his exposed underbelly, but Sesshoumaru accepted the pain and let it fuel him, toxic wind erupting from his jaws and choking the fire-bird, blinding him properly this time even if the effect would wear off.

That didn't matter, because even bleeding, even burned, even in intense pain and over-come with rage, Sesshoumaru's fangs found that throat. And when he caught it he didn't rip and tear the head off, he didn't crush the bones and collapse the throat, he didn't kill Ryokijin again so the bested creature could rebirth and escape.

He held on and poisoned the bird, he held on and let himself be shaken and burned, talons and claws fighting again in the burning air. Sesshoumaru held Ryokijin's throat in his mouth until he felt his opponent start to weaken, the Phoenix Lord unable to cope with his injuries and the dead-weigh Sesshoumaru had become around his fragile neck. When the bird began to twist and fall out of the sky, Sesshoumaru won.

When Ryokijin fell there was an eruption of fire that Sesshoumaru had to navigate as their bodies shrunk, but inside it all he found the stunned Phoenix Lord and lunged. He didn't grab him with massive fangs or pound him between great paws, but rather shed his true form and latched his hand around the phoenix's throat instead. Not hard enough to snap his neck, not violent enough to kill him.

"_She is **mine!**"_ No, he grabbed Ryokijin and he angled them down through the air until the Phoenix's back was forced to slam into the surface of the river- the one he'd chased Kagura too, the one where he'd tried to force himself on Sesshoumaru's woman. As soon as his back touched the cold water the bird's blue eyes snapped open, his talons digging into and ripping down Sesshoumaru's arm desperately, but it didn't matter.

He brought them down on an angle, forcing the phoenix underneath him to skip and cut through the shallow water and the stones underneath. And when they stopped he didn't let go; not until he had his knees down on Ryokijin's arms and the freedom to drive his fist through the other demon's face. The Phoenix didn't even acknowledge the strike, screaming and writhing as the water cascaded down his pinned body. Bursts of steam erupted under Sesshoumaru and, like every other cut and burn he'd taken, he didn't even feel it.

He punched, he clawed, he drove his fingers through the soft tissues of the pheonix's throat. He ripped out whatever wouldn't give under his abuse; tore the phoenix's cheeks out, shattered his skull, pulled his hair off with the scalp still attached. Sesshoumaru violated the body with claws and poison even after it stopped moving, struck at the river until the last of the ash had been washed away and swept off down river. He even shattered the stones on which Ryokijin had been laying.

And when it was done, and it was over, and he realized he'd been snarling and growling the entire time, that he was _still_ growling, and that he still hadn't quite caught his breath... It was only when he felt the sun beginning to rise in the east that Sesshoumaru slowly, finally, started to calm down. It took several more minutes before he could fish Eurus' rod out of the river and slide it into his sash, but he managed it, then stood.

He didn't let the pain of his injuries bring him down, didn't acknowledge the char or sweat on his face. All he did was shut his calming eyes for a moment and draw on his inner strength. The slashes and holes in his clothing were repaired, his armour mending all but the deepest gouges that had been cut across the front. The blood he'd shed was repulsed from his clothing, and his wounds; the deep rents cut across his thighs and hidden under his armour were already beginning to stitch themselves shut. He forced himself to heal, his body would naturally take two days or more to recover from this much trauma, but Sesshoumaru stood there and he _made_ his flesh pull itself back together.

"Lord Sesshoumaru!" Slowly opening his eyes again, Sesshoumaru waited calmly for his fangs to shrink back down to a more manageable length, aware that his marks had already smoothed down and ceased to burn or chill him. His exhaustion was sharp and painful, turning the light and sounds around him into a reverberating mass of over-exposed sensation, but he forced himself to endure it. Jaken's voice hurt, but it could not irritate him after expending so much violent rage, the Demon Lord turning and looking up over his shoulder as he caught Un's scent and saw Jaken standing on the green dragon's back, the two of them hovering over the river.

"Lord Sesshoumaru! Is it done? Is it over? Have you truly killed the Phoenix Lord Ryokijin once and for all m'lord?" Such an irritating howl...

"_Jaken._" His jaw hurt, his limbs were heavy, his flesh felt weak as his punished body ran out of the reserves that kept it going. This wasn't working, he had to feed soon; failure and starvation were making him weak...

"Yes, sire?"

"Where is my wife?" Sesshoumaru knew where Kagura was, but Jaken did not and that was the point behind the question. The terrible fear that welled up in the toad's yellow eyes and the bead of sweat dancing on his green skin was, somehow, almost rewarding. Un didn't appear as frightened, merely met his amber gaze before turning in the air and taking Jaken with him.

Soaking wet, the Demon Lord slowly walked out of the shallow water, his fur rejecting any of the spray that had clung to it as he fought and moved. His pace was careful for the sake of both his tender wounds and his fragile temper. He ran one wet hand over his face to wipe away the black on his brow and cheeks, unable, at that moment, to spare the energy to repulse the filth.

Now that Ryokijin was dead... He had to deal with Kagura. A Kagura that he had failed to mate with properly and therefore failed miserably to protect. A Kagura he had attacked the last time he had seen her. A Kagura he had almost allowed to fall victim to a rival.

He walked slowly, allowing Jaken and Un ample time to reach her before he did. Sesshoumaru tried to ignore the persistent odour of her blood as the small group came into view around the river's subtle bend. There were one too many figures standing there, and he couldn't properly sense who the new one was. He flexed his claws slowly, making sure he was ready if it were necessary to defend his mate again.

"_But you're dead! Inuyasha and his friends killed you almost twenty years ago!_" But fighting would not be called for. Sesshoumaru paused in his advance as his keen eyes saw the small girl in white standing next to his kneeling mate, apparently facing off against his servant.

"_Do not shout, Kagura is tired._" The demon was injured, or should he say damaged. There were black cracks and gouges riddling the scentless girl's body, one of her black eyes blinded by the fractures and an arm that looked ready to fall off onto the ground.

"_I'm not shouting! I'm telling you that you're supposed to be dead! But you're not! And how is that even possible? Do Naraku's incarnations just spontaneously resurrect or-?_" Sesshoumaru began walking again as the demon girl raised her mirror and Jaken's brown-clad body went stiff and silent. The imp tipped back and landed like dead weight on the ground, Un lowering his muzzled head to sniff the servant and make sure he was still alive.

"_Kanna, heal yourself._" Kagura's voice found its way into his ear and Sesshoumaru's focus shifted entirely from the actions going on around her. "_Please just step into the water._" Kanna, the mirror demon from Naraku's reign of terror. He had no reason to remember her, or to care beyond the fact that her current state was causing Kagura distress. His woman should have been more concerned with herself.

One of his wife's white sleeves was missing from her gown, but Sesshoumaru could see a few strands of spider-silk beginning to re-weave themselves down her exposed arm. Her hair was loose and in a helpless tangle around her head, wet now and with a few tufts of hair that looked like they had been torn- or perhaps burnt. Her hands were red, the burns most severe along that bare arm and the side of her face. When she turned her head he saw a flash of yellow that meant she was still wearing one of her earrings, but the ear facing him was bloody and without ornament.

Kagura was kneeling in the shallows now, the water skating over her bare feet where he saw them red and slashed open. Bakusaiga was held across his wife's torso in both hands, the white sheath wet but the sword obedient as it watched each of the demons around it: Kanna, Un, and the apparently comatose Jaken. Had that mirror done something to him?

Kagura looked at him briefly, but then her tired eyes abruptly fell. He slowed down again, watching her tightly pull on the green of her bodice where it was done up over her chest. Different emotions, conflicting ones, filtered through his marks from her as he came closer again. Sesshoumaru tried to understand what he was putting out himself... then resolved to feel nothing. He would be calm, he was more than capable of that right now. All of the exhaustion and the hunger and the pain could wait for now, because he would be calm.

"You, girl." Kanna, but he didn't feel compelled to use her name. The girl had stepped into the cold water next to Kagura as she had been bid, looking at him with only one working eye as the dawn light reflected off her face and hair. Glass. It explained her lack of scent. "Restore my servant." As Kanna stared at him Sesshoumaru watched what she was doing with the water, his senses picking up the barest sliver of a demonic aura as the clear liquid ran up her legs and looped around her shoulders. Her wounds began to fill in and pull together, expelling dirt and sand that made him think she had been buried. There was a landslide near by, fresh, perhaps that explained it.

"If he continues to shout, I will put him back in." If her voice had held even a tremble of emotion, Sesshoumaru would have called her on insolence. But the words were bland, empty, without investment as she delivered them and lifted her mirror again where it was resting against her stomach.

With a flash of white light, Jaken suddenly blinked and sat up. He took a few moments to collect himself, to watch Kanna, to look at Sesshoumaru, then-

"Jaken." He cut off the outburst, ignoring the tears in the imp's eyes as the imp choked on the shriek. "If you continue to make unnecessary noise, I will kill you." Jaken's stunned and pleading expression remained for a few more moments, then the Demon Lord watched as his servant obediently swallowed the scream and sat down. Or rather, he fell down, but Sesshoumaru didn't care as he removed the fire rod from his belt and tossed it towards Jaken. The imp let it hit him in the head, and said nothing.

"You are free to leave, or to stay here with Jaken and Un." This he directed towards the glass demon, Kanna's body finished with repairing and cleansing itself. For a moment he felt her attention shift from him and down to Kagura, then over to the servants, then back to the sorceress.

"Kagura cannot walk."

"I do not expect her to." Kagura looked up between the two of them, almost confused for a moment before she went back to just holding Bakusaiga. When she held the sword out to him Sesshoumaru almost didn't take it, and the blade understood why and didn't fuss. Ultimately he did accept it from her, sliding the weapon back into place over Tenseiga's blue hilt.

Then he knelt down next to Kagura, ignoring the water and filth clinging to her, ignored the stink of blood and burn and lust that had saturated her clothing and stained her skin. He just placed his cut and wounded arm behind her back, the other forcing her legs to move so he could hook it under her knees and pick her up. She squirmed for a moment, protested weakly, but he was firm and she relented after a few moments, slowly setting her head down on his chest.

"Wait here until we return." And then he started walking.

* * *

><p><strong>Yeeesss, there we go, two powerful demons kicking each other in the teeth for aggressive and manly reasons. This fight just kicks that Boreas battle right out of the water, and it was incredibly fun to write too. Now I just have to figure out how to top it for the finale...<strong>

**And good news! I've completed two more chapters, so we'll definitely be getting to 17 before you guys see a slow down in updates. Why can't I guarantee 18? Because I jumped the gun and wrote a later chapter because lolorderofevents. But I currently love chapter 17, so 18 shouldn't be too hard if I stay on my current roll.**

**Read and review!**


	14. I: A True Mate

**I Will Carry You is like the cheesiest song ever, but it worked. No More Words.**

**I don't know what's going on with me, it's like every time I bring up Inukimi in this story the content around her just dies pitifully. That's where I am in Chapter 18, Sesshou has to deal with his mother, but what am I _actually_ working on in this meantime? The next event arc. It's like, wtf, Sesshoumaru's mother isn't _that_ difficult a character to write!**

***punches Inukimi on the snout to establish dominance, then updates chapter 14***

* * *

><p><em><strong>To Make Things Right<strong>_

A True Mate

_'I'm being carried.'_

The last time- first time? that Sesshoumaru had carried her, Kagura had just endured the marking ritual. She'd been angry at him for springing the experience on her, shaken by the memory of the pain, and exhausted by the storm of emotions and power. She had lashed out at him for it and in exchange he had been tender with her, almost loving, a surprise. Kagura could still remember the sight of the blue ocean and perfect sky surrounding them. Sometimes she thought back about how he'd nuzzled her face and held her, what that had felt like.

She thought about it now because she was being carried again, the dawn light creeping over the mountains to the east. The pale rays of summer warmth were something that Kagura felt herself flinch away from when they touched her bare feet, or flashed across her eyes. Her first reaction was to bury herself into his fur, the healthy tan mane that her face was already resting against, one hand pressed into the silky fleece, but she couldn't manage it. Kagura just watched the red tassells on his cuirass sway with his steps, or looked past him all together and counted the trees as he walked through the forest.

He hadn't said anything, not before, during, or after the fight with Ryokijin, and Kagura didn't know what he was thinking. She'd never seen him do something like that; take pleasure in a kill before, intentionally draw out the suffering of his prey and made their death a prolonged, violent experience. She'd never seen him reject the use of his swords in favour of claws and fists; he did not draw the pair unnecessarily, but Kagura knew tonight- last night? She knew it hadn't been him making a statement about his power in relation to the Phoenix Lords': Sesshoumaru had taken satisfaction in drowning Ryokijin with his bare hands.

Shouldn't that have made her feel better? It should have, but it didn't. And she knew Kanna was safe and that should have helped console her, put her mind at ease, but again, it didn't do any good. It didn't change what had happened, it didn't make her feel better, couldn't wash away-

"Put me down, Sesshoumaru." All the blood and the filth and the stink. Her skin felt better, her burns had healed for the most part already, her feet and shoulder were mending, her back still ached from when she had been pulled out of the sky and slammed into stone, but it would go away. But his scent was on her, that sickening, smothering, suffocating odour of smoke and salt and char, the physical fire tempered with a sweet stink even Kagura could smell. It must have been over-powering for him.

"Why?" He didn't stop walking, didn't look down at her. His voice betrayed as much as if she'd just stated that it would rain today.

"Don't make me explain..." Her clothes were heavy with water, ash and dirt, so much filth clinging to one little body. Kagura shut her eyes tightly, hands fumbling with the front of her gown again despite her clothes being done up as tight as they could go. She'd been exposed, she still _felt_ exposed. That knowledge alone would not have shaken her if Kagura hadn't been so _scared_ when it happened. She had been fine until the fear hit her, her mind a steel trap that hadn't cared what happened so long as she didn't die. Terror had destroyed that, it had let the fire bird's poison soak into her skin and stay there.

"Explain." She opened her eyes because she felt Sesshoumaru looking at her, her teeth beginning to hurt until Kagura realized her jaw was clenched. Her throat felt tight and sore and she resolved not to look at him as she shut her eyes. He was still walking, his stride unbroken as he waited. Did he have a destination, or was he just moving?

"The stink..." She hated him for making her say it. "Now put me down."

"What stink?" He broke her resolve by asking a stupid question, Kagura's eyes snapping up and finding his gold ones. Cold, walled off, impassive, she choked on her words for a moment as anxiety and frustration collided.

"Which one of us is the dog?" He lifted one thin brow at her. "Yes, that was an insult."

"You smell fine." Sesshoumaru stopped walking as she wedged her left arm between her side and his chest, his arms adjusting so he was still able to hold her up as Kagura kept pushing. She balled her right hand up into a fist: if he said one more stupid thing she- "Under everything else, Kagura, you smell like yourself." Everything else, _everythi-_ that's what she was talking about!

Everything else: being chased, being weak, being caught like an animal and held down by bonds she couldn't see. Robbed of choice and freedom, confused and given no reason or purpose for anything. Having to be _rescued_, again, finding herself weak and trapped _again_, and smothered in the stink and reality of it. He'd come this time, but he hadn't at first, he'd been late, almost too late. And he'd let her die once before, he'd refused to save her the very, very first time she'd needed him.

What if that happened again?

"What's wrong with me?" The change was sudden and Kagura felt herself start to shake, the rims around her eyes beginning to burn without her control. The fear and worry in her chest weren't hers and the tears forced their way out because she was too tired, too injured, too overwhelmed. He stopped looking at her. "You're scared...? Why? No- _stop that!_ Look at me!"

She saw it because she knew him, she knew his body and his pride and she felt the shift in him. She saw Sesshoumaru's topaz eyes slide past hers and lock on some unknown point. She felt his chest cave just enough that he could have just exhaled- but it held like that. His shoulders inched forward and his chin came down by a hair; he was cowering. He was a dog and he was afraid, hiding right in front of her.

"_Stop!_ Stop- Sesshoumaru what's wrong?" The mutual realization was the reason his strength gave just enough for Kagura's feet to hit the ground; pain lancing up both legs from her healing feet and her already weakened left leg. But she didn't need to stand, and Kagura just ignored the intense ache in her back and shoulders as she threw her arms around his neck; burying her face against him like she hadn't wanted to do into his fur.

Just a few minutes changed everything, and yet another negative emotion came and rammed itself through their marks: the cycle already underway as Kagura clung to him and felt her abused body start to sob.

"I can't do this again- _I can't. _Just tell me what's wrong this time,_ please_, I'm begging you- just say it this time..." Don't make her guess, no more wondering, no more exaggerations and wild tail-spins, no more, no more, no more... _please..._

"..._I_-" He hesitated, and it wasn't a small, typical Sesshoumaru-style pause. She felt his arms rise and freeze without doing anything, his only physical reaction to her embrace and tears. He just froze and didn't move, but the grief pouring into her chest started going deeper, Kagura holding on tighter until she finally felt his arms snap shut around her. And it was a snap; his hold didn't settle around her body, his long arms folded tight against her back as one hand hung onto her side under one arm, the other fastened around her waist.

"_Tell me._" She felt the spikes on his armour start to push into her chest but Kagura made herself ignore it, eyes shut as her tears irritated her raw skin. It had been weeks and weeks since he had last held her, but it hadn't been long enough since she had last seen him weak- they were supposed to be finished with all of that. His embrace was tight but Kagura couldn't stop crying, turning her face against his silver hair as she held the back of his head with one hand. Sesshoumaru's face turned until she felt his shallow breaths on her neck and his cheek held close against her tear-stained one.

"I didn't _ask..._"

"Ask what?" She almost knew what he was going to do when his neck tensed and began to straighten, but Kagura couldn't commit to the idea. All the wind-witch had for sure was the knowledge that he was feeling the exact emotions she was, they were just expressing it differently. It was the only way to explain the sudden breakdown and then embrace, or the way his left arm re-adjusted down her back until it was holding her waist, his right one free to move up and touched her face. He felt the same thing, he was hurt the same way?

It felt like a kiss, his thumb breaking up the tear-tracks on one side of her face as his fingers slipped back through her loose, tangled hair. It acted like a kiss, when he tilted her head to the side and she saw his gold eyes holding a flicker that was supposed to only show up when he experienced pain or rage. But Sesshoumaru didn't kiss- he kissed _back_, but he didn't kiss. Kagura could only think of two he'd ever given her outside of lust; and one of those had been a dream, the other almost as painful and violent and coming moments before he'd marked her.

But it was a kiss. It happened so slowly Kagura could feel the pressure of his lips settle over hers, saw him standing with his eyes closed and his arm curled around her waist, holding her. Holding, not pulling, not squeezing, and a kiss that wasn't hungry, or teasing, or intoxicatingly sweet. No growls or claws, not even a fang to catch her lip as she let him deepen the kiss and closed her eyes.

He could be gentle with her, but he was always intense; that was what surprised her now. No heat, no force, no urgency, there was a question in his touch and feeling it caused fresh tears to spring up from her eyes, her bottom lip starting to tremble.

"_I love you_." Did he pull away? Did she? Kagura couldn't tell and breathed the words anyways, filling the space between them as Sesshoumaru drew back from her- his hands still in place but with a looser hold. His bangs were down over his eyes and his chest only caved further as Kagura was made to stand on her own again, watching him as their marks gave her nothing to go off of.

But standing made her start to hurt again, a wince building across her face- he knelt first. If he did it because he read her reaction or for some other reason was beyond her. What felt important to her was that his hand slipped from her face and his arm dropped from around her back, Kagura following and kneeling closely in front of him. She reached for one of his hands but he pulled away from her, still looking down, still, in his way, cowering.

"Sesshoumaru-"

"I didn't ask you to be my mate." What? "I took you as my own, but I did not _ask..._" That... that sounded so... From him, it sounded stupid.

"When... do you ever ask?" Leaning forward and reaching her hand out again, Kagura's fingertips brushed his cheek slowly, her touch light in case he moved back from her again. "I was willing, I-"

"I relied on my instincts and I- it was insufficient." He choked- Sesshoumaru never choked, but Kagura understood what he wasn't saying. She pulled her hand back and wiped her eyes to try and combat the tears, fear still surging through her veins. Most of it was his, but enough of it was hers now; responding to the alien emotions ripping him apart. He had been _wrong_, that was what he meant.

"It's alright-"

"I did not mark you to be my consort, _I wanted you as my wife!_" Fine! She'd already agreed to that! Kagura was about to shout the words at him for barking at her- but the shared fire was quenched by a fresh influx of emotion. Guilt, grief, shame; he felt low looking at her, brought down, and it hurt them both as his voice dropped to something unnaturally soft. Yellow eyes that had looked up at her in anger dropped again in shame. "To have you wander like a woman in bondage, chained to a male you did not want- or who did not accept you." Now that... sounded familiar.

How many times had Ryokijin asked her if she was a slave? Or demanded the name of a captor? He had called her unwanted and Sesshoumaru unfit, accused her of being unhappy and ignorant, said she deserved better. In the Phoenix Lord's eyes he hadn't been attacking a wife, he had chased a begrudging concubine. Her words hadn't mattered if Sesshoumaru's actions meant something else.

"Then ask m-_eh_..." Kagura didn't think before trying to stand. The stinging sensation in her feet was tolerable, it was the tremor of weakness that went up her thigh and hip that caused her to fumble her words and tip over. She caught herself on one hand and found Sesshoumaru's arm bracing her chest, holding her weight as she looked up at his face where he'd flashed closer to her.

There was discontinuity between what she saw and what she felt. The storm of negative emotions on the inside felt overpowering, but his yellow eyes looked so cold, just enough anger and insult woven through his features to mask the distress. The only difference was the focus he placed on her, and the obvious tension in his body as he held her up.

"Your injuries are severe."

"No, they're just many. Some old, some-" Kagura stopped speaking and pinched her red lips together. For Sesshoumaru it was a dramatic shift when his lips parted just a little, and his eyes widened by a hair. But he screamed on the inside: she could almost hear it and clasped a hand over her marks as they resonated. The shame landed like a wave, a heaving blow that made the Demon Lord in front of her stop breathing for several moments.

"A month."

"I've almost healed, don't act like I'm-"

"A month. Show me." Kagura opened her mouth to refuse but then reconsidered. Straightening her body up so she didn't need to lean on him, Sesshoumaru was still kneeling in front of her, eyes pinned to her face.

"Marry me." He blinked at her, and Kagura lifted a finger and jabbed it in his direction. "Swear to finish the ritual with me. You want me as your wife, don't you?" There was a pause, it was typical and brief, but on the inside there was a subtle shift in his emotions. The screaming stopped, she'd confused him.

"Do not change the subject."

"I'm not, you did." His fear was caused by what? Fear of her dying? No. Fear of danger? Definitely not. But fear was the first thing to drain from him, to lessen its intensity, lift its weight. "Do you want me as your mate, Sesshoumaru? Properly this time?" Fear of...

"Yes." ...Rejection? Almost, but not quite.

"Do you want to be my husband?" He paused again and Kagura minded his emotions, not his face. His stature changed though, his shoulders started- _started_, to relax, he lifted his chin just a little. Still anxious, still worrying, but lessened, he was staring at her without words. "Sesshoumaru."

"_Yes._" A sliver of emotion bubbled past his lips and Kagura felt her throat constrict. It was hard to swallow and breathing became a chore, but she forced herself to do both.

Fear of... losing her. Of seeing her walk away. So he thought he'd screwed up that badly, did he? Enough that she'd try running away from him now? It scared her a little to feel that, if she did run, he felt too ashamed enough to chase after her. Kagura didn't like that, she could trust him enough to let her leave if she pushed for it, but to have him just give up- no, she didn't like that.

"Show me your chest."

"Show me your leg." Such a puppy, he was stuck on that point now and wouldn't let it go. Kagura ignored him.

"I won't tolerate Rin." He didn't understand her comment. "Take in whatever human children you want, Sesshoumaru, but I won't share you, and I want to keep Kanna with us too so-"

"Stop changing the subject-"

"_I'm not!_" She harped, and his thin black brows rose again. "It's the same discussion! And remove those too while you're at it!" She pointed at his chest and Sesshoumaru's eyes followed, his curiosity piqued as he took note of the two steel horns on the front of his armour. Kagura hated those spikes, and said as much. "The pauldron's fine, keep it, but _those_- I'm sick of them! And they don't do anything in battle anyways!"

Kagura wasn't raving at him because she was mad- frustrated yes, but not mad. Her voice rose and she gestured sharply with her hands not to aggravate him, but because she felt him growing calmer as he listened. She almost shouted _'I'm not leaving, you idiot!'_, but Kagura held the words back. If she was going to call him on the fear then she wanted to do it on her feet, she wanted to talk down to him with her actually standing _over_ him, just to emphasize how stupid his worries were. Sesshoumaru was never scared, but he had a terrible habit of picking the stupidest things to fret over.

_'I've waited too long for you to chase me off with one proud mistake.'_ She thought mercilessly, folding her arms crossly and letting the sentiments fire into his mind. He answered her with something Kagura couldn't name right away, the Demon Lord shutting his eyes where he was still kneeling in front of her- not allowing his face to give it away. Her red eyes widened a little and Kagura pinched her lips together, one hand lifting up and pressing on her marks yet again.

It was the sort of thick, consuming warmth that she woke up with when surrounded by his arms and fur, the long, slow breaths over her skin from a relaxed lover. But it was also deep and thrilling like when she was the focus of his passion. A refreshing cool misted her skin like ocean spray- the playful delight of kicking him into the water and feeling him chase her tickled down her spine. And then there was the tender calm of being drawn into his arms and having earthen lips settle over hers, watching a mountain crumble because it couldn't hold onto the wind.

His love felt like four elements, and Sesshoumaru didn't fight her as Kagura reached for the sides of his throat and jaw and tugged his face down onto hers. Another kiss, his body not answering until she kept pulling him and he had to plant one hand on the ground to keep from falling forward. He kissed her, kissed back, felt better...

Their lips continued to part and meet until Kagura was reclining down on the forest floor, braced on one elbow and still touching his face with her other hand. Sesshoumaru had followed, one knee between her legs and pinning her burnt white dress down, one arm positioned next to hers and propped up outside her elbow. She had forgotten one of her sleeves was missing until the backs of his claws skated down her skin smoothly, then left her.

Leaning back just a little more, Kagura stopped when she felt him refuse to follow, slowly opening her eyes from where they'd slid shut. His face was hovering just in front of hers, bodies close enough to touch. His amber gaze was half-lidded, lips just slightly parted so she knew he was breathing in her scent. Maybe that was why he stopped... She'd forgotten.

"My scent..."

"You smell fine." His eyes slid shut and Kagura watched his head drop just a little, his hair pooling in silver curls on her chest and down her side. Sesshoumaru took a deep breath with his nose against the soiled green silk of her bodice. The garment was still ripped and torn and damp, but he nuzzled her covered breast anyways, the cloth too thick for her to feel it properly. "What else?" His voice sounded so quiet, almost tired, but so _tender_.

"What else what?" She answered quietly, running her fingers through the screen of his hair. So soft...

"What other demands do you have for me?" The words lacked spite or resentment, her marks resonating with his heartbeat. "I have no further reason to see Rin, Kanna will stay, I will change my armour... What else, Kagura?" What else? So much else...

'_Make love to me.'_ He caught her eyes through his bangs and Kagura felt herself smile, a low chuckle crawling up her throat as she shook her head slowly. Yes, but no. He'd made his little vow and broken it to kiss her, to comfort and hold her, it would be selfish to take advantage of him like this. Those sorts of tricks and ploys could come when he was himself again, when her Sesshoumaru was strong and confident.

"I want..." She sat up a little, her weight still settled on her arm and her other hand still stroking and moving through his soft hair. Sesshoumaru didn't back up as she came forward though, lifting his head just enough so his nose was over her collar bone instead of down in her bosom. She combed her hand through silver locks until she was holding the base of his neck gently, encouraging him to stay there. His hand stroked the side of her neck with his claws, knuckles striking the dangle of her earring. "A new comb."

Feeling the one topaz earring sway immediately reminded Kagura of her missing one; but the jewelry had come second, the comb was first. Her first gift, and it had been from him. It was gone and she wanted him to replace it for her- it didn't feel like too much.

"Do you not like your old one?" That was a strange thing to ask...

"The phoenix stole it..." She felt him nuzzle against her chest- or was he shaking his head? She couldn't tell, but it felt nice and Kagura didn't stop him. They were in such an uncomfortable position though, this would have been much easier if they were laying down- but he didn't want her to move and held her shoulder with his free hand when she tried tipping back. Fine.

"Kagura." Yes? "I want to see your marks." She didn't understand the words for a moment until she felt his nose prod her chest again gently.

"You've never seen them, have you?" Not since he'd actually cut them into her skin; and even then he'd walked away before the experience was complete. But after that he hadn't disturbed her clothing again, hadn't seen her skin until, well, _now?_ Even under the waterfall, that time he'd been mad, Sesshoumaru hadn't pulled her clothes out of the way to actually look at her body. He'd been too wrapped up in his vows to come near her.

Kagura found herself hesitating and understood why. She touched her black sash and stopped without pulling at the knot. Sesshoumaru had not been the last person to see her body: Kanna didn't count, she was a girl, she was family, but Ryokijin... He'd dug his talons into her skin, groped and fondled her. It made her feel sick, sick and angry that he-

"You smell fine." That was the third time Sesshoumaru had repeated the words. "I will not harm you again." Idiot, she wasn't worried about his temper.

The knot came away under her tugs and Kagura sat up as she slipped her other hand free of his hair to pull the green bodice open, tugging on the decorative buttons under her throat to open the white layer underneath. He moved in and then back again when he saw the blue fabric under that, and she felt a thread of curiosity in him. He hadn't known about the third one.

But Kagura was curious too, watching him adjust his legs enough that he could remain down low without bending his body so awkwardly, weight on his knees. He pulled the layers of the gown off her shoulders and spread them down to her waist, but it was done without lust. Sesshoumaru wasn't cold, his hands were gentle as he touched the two bruises under her ribs from his stupid armour, but he didn't suddenly grasp her shoulders and shove her down either. His thumb traced the swell of her breast, but it was done idly, not in preparation to grab and pleasure her.

He touched her marks and Kagura held her breath, his fingertips running slowly down the red slashes before finding their way to the yellow stain between her breasts. He seemed to recognize something about it that she hadn't, but soon lost interest in whatever it was. She was going to say something, she didn't know what, but didn't get a chance before he slowly moved in and pressed his cheek against her skin. He shifted down a little, then over to the right-

And then his facial marks lined up correctly over the ones on her chest.

"_-! You son of a-!_"

It didn't hurt, but the storm of yoki that flooded into her chest from his skin was_ electrifying,_ the sensation bordering on pain as heat and light surged through her body. Her muscles tensed and her arm snapped around his head, holding him to her as her frantic fingers touched smiling lips and closed eyes. Bastard! Snake! Trickster!

Through all his kisses and caresses Kagura had wondered at the lack of intensity, and _here_ it was. Possessive and controlling, her limbs wouldn't work because they didn't _want_ to, her senses quickly overcome by a blurring of pleasure and pain. Her eyes were dazzled by white light and blinded at the same time. She heard his smug voice growling in her head and let the seductive purr assuage her temper. His every touch had been soft and neutral, but now the energy was ripping through her skin and hammering into bone and muscle.

The only thing missing was _him_, the storm quickly blowing itself out and leaving Kagura exactly where she had been. Sitting uncomfortably on the forest floor with a Demon Lord's face clutched to her bare chest. But that moment didn't last, Kagura sitting up properly as she grabbed a fist-full of silver hair and forced his head up, her other hand tangling with the collar of his white kimono as she snarled at him.

"What the _hell_ was that for! ?" And how dare he look so smug! She'd slap that smile right off his face if he so much as-

"For your injuries." Her what! ? "And clothes. I could do nothing for your temper." Smart-ass! But as Kagura answered his narrowing eyes by releasing her hold on his scalp, she looked down at her dishevelled clothes as the weight of her torn sleeve was restored. The white spider-silk rewove itself before her eyes, the green bodice repairing from the blackened burns across the front. And she was clean; the filth had been physically ejected off her body by the storm of power. It was the same sort of thing she saw him do at times when he didn't want to bathe or pick something off his hair and clothes. But he'd just gone ahead and fired through her like it was nothing! He hadn't even asked!

Smug, proud and satisfied, that was how he felt as he retained the tiniest possible curve on his thin lips. Her frustration just seemed to make him happier, which in turn just flustered her more, but then Kagura had a moment- a flash, that cleared her mind. Maybe it came from him in the form of an _'I hope she doesn't'-_thought, or maybe she was just a very clever demon, but either way his pleased expression dropped once he felt her emotions change. She kept her hold on his collar, but with her other hand Kagura swiftly grasped a handful of his fur and _pulled_.

She didn't pull hard, didn't yank out any of the silken fleece, it was an empty threat but he responded none-the-less. Sesshoumaru's shoulders twisted unexpectedly, a thin breath hissing in through his teeth as he glared at her. He could glower all he wanted, Kagura kept her hand where it was and spoke down to him condescendingly, a disgustingly sweet smile on her lips.

"Take off your shirt, Sesshoumaru, or I'll mark you right here." She threatened, loosening one finger and working a clear patch into his fur, down to the sensitive skin underneath. The threat wasn't _so_ empty this time either. "And my dear, it will hurt." There were few places on his body where it would hurt _more_ actually.

"I afford you too many liberties, woman." He growled, but it wasn't a _real_ growl, just his voice becoming low and rough. Kagura smirked at him and released her tight grip on his fur, smoothing the abused patch tenderly under her hand while tugging up on his collar. He came forward because he wanted to, his pride very forgiving of her _'liberties'_ as she rubbed her lips over his.

"Shut up and strip." A real growl answered the tease, and Kagura's bare skin felt warm in the mid-day sun filtering down through the trees.

Pain first, pleasure later.

* * *

><p><strong>Long chapter is long but was fun. Hopefully I've smoothed over some of the transitions too since the emotions shifted abruptly at first.<strong>

**Once I figure out the deal with the angry mama demon, I'll finally be able to give you guys an idea of how long this story will be. At the moment, I can hazard a guess right now that I'm working around chapters 22 to 24, but I'm not 100% on that. We shall see!**


	15. I: Rest and Regroup

**No More Words, Four Seasons, I Will Carry You, Shout Remix?**

**My summer course is just totally leaving me dead half the week, so while I'm definitely still keen on getting TMTR finished, I'm running very, very low on pre-finished chapters. Thankfully I'm still writing for the other four days of the week, but I keep bouncing between this project and another one. **

**Regardless, FLUFFIES YAY LOOK SO FLUFFY:**

* * *

><p><em><strong>To Make Things Right<strong>_

Rest and Regroup

His chest didn't satisfy her, and neither did his back. Sesshoumaru's torso was good for many, many things, not the least of which being that it was a nice, firm pillow: always warm and with a gentle rise and fall that felt like rocking. But it wasn't good for marking. She didn't want her mark on his breast or mimicking hers on the collar-bones, it would look silly down near his hips and his firm stomach didn't feel like something she wanted to cut or maim. He'd never see it if it were on his back though, so that was out too.

"_Sesshoumaru-!_" Getting him to remain still as she figured all of this out was a challenge as well. Kagura had not fixed her clothing after letting him see (and do other things to) her marks, an unwise decision as her lover removed his swords and armour, shedding his kimono and kosode before becoming fidgety. Something gold and a tiny pouch had fallen out of his armour as he tossed them aside, but Kagura hadn't had a chance to ask before he was on her. She had felt him lust before, but this was different.

It was different because Kagura's aura, and by extension her scent, were heavy in the air as she moved over his skin with her eyes and fingertips. Her aura was out because that was what made the marks; she had to release energy in order to condense it into the dye that would remain in his skin. Kagura's instincts were not as dominating as Sesshoumaru's, but she still understood this now that she was actually listening for whatever instructions the wind had, paying attention to what felt right.

And what felt right was complicating things, because between her scent and her skin the mutt she was trying to mark couldn't keep his hands to himself. But those hands felt good, and those lips, and that weight as Kagura found herself on her back with an eager canine nibbling on her ear. And it felt so _good_...

"I didn't do this to you-" Kagura interrupted herself with a gasp as one of Sesshoumaru's fangs grazed a sensitive spot below the corner of her jaw.

"_You tried._" Her neck stretched and her back arched, not dramatically, but enough to encourage him to keep going despite her complaints. Kagura had already freed her arms from where they'd been tangled in her sleeves, and now her hands were flat on his moving back, holding on to keep his skin pressed down against hers.

When he started to slide down her front Kagura couldn't stop him, lifting her arms over her head and tilting her head back as he let his facial marks slide past the ones on her chest. She pulled on the grass and closed her eyes as his hot mouth nipped and sucked on her, tongue and fangs working together to send cold bolts firing up and down her spine. When he stopped to nuzzle her skin with his nose, heavy breaths rolling down her bare stomach, Kagura found words. They were breathless, but they were words.

"That vow you made-" Like a dark cloud he came back up over her, hazy yellow eyes staring straight down into hers. It surprised her for a moment that they weren't red, but his skin was also flushed- something new. It didn't matter though, because instead of answering her comment Sesshoumaru just made a single, _meaningful_ push with his hips back on top of hers. There was too much silk and fabric in the way for the gesture to be potent, but it didn't have to be. She felt her eyes flutter shut for a moment and let the short pause say everything he wanted: don't complain.

He attacked the other side of her neck now and Kagura felt herself groping for something to hold- a shoulder, an elbow, a hand, and her fingers wrapped around a part of his left arm that was textured differently. She felt the scar from his regenerated arm and rubbed it curiously, her eyes sliding open as she found the spot she wanted. It was the same height as his pauldron: protected, covered, hidden from anyone who he didn't want seeing it. But not so hidden, protected, or covered for her to never catch a glimpse...

"So sorry to interrupt-" She gasped again as he nicked her with a fang, but then used her free hand to get a brief grip on his hair. The pain was just enough to bring his head up, earning her a moment of his attention. "-you love-drunk mutt, but this is going to wait." Topaz eyes had a hard time focusing on her, but his cheeks were definitely pink, almost like he was running a fever.

"_No._" The single word was enough to push another pleasurable tingle down her spine, but Kagura reigned in the reaction. This lust was different; it wasn't spilling over from his marks into hers, wasn't creating that sort of spiral that just got tighter and tighter- stronger and undeniable as it went along. But- just thinking like that made him harder to ignore, Kagura's legs tangled up with his despite her gown and his pants, a soft groan moving up her throat as he kissed her lips and continued to move over her.

"Stupid dog-" He crushed her mouth with his and she felt a clawed hand pulling on her thigh; Sesshoumaru encouraging her to wrap her legs around his hips, and pushing down on her in a way that was _very_ convincing. Kagura felt her resolve slipping, but clung to it as she unhooked her legs from around his. Knees straight, hips down, and one spurned Demon Lord growling over her as Kagura crossed her knees and twisted her legs together under him. He bit her behind the ear as punishment, the two of them slowly rolling over onto their sides on the crushed grass between the trees. Kagura _just_ retained enough presence of mind after the shot of pleasure to drag her nails over that scar.

The wind came down and with a single fast, even curl, sliced the skin all the way around his arm. The pain didn't seem to register with him, a vaguely confused look crossing his feverish face before Kagura caught his face between her hands and planted a kiss on his mouth, forcing him to roll onto his back.

"_Mine._" Protector, lover, husband, mate. Kagura dragged a hand back through his silver hair as she felt her aura begin to pulse and react to the spilled blood. The intoxicating red quickly drew itself out of the air and focused around his arm, the Demon Lord's jaw tensing up as his eyes narrowed on her accusingly. He looked surprised, then his body gave a violent twitch and a growl tore up his throat in pain.

"I told you it hurts!" And it built up quickly, Sesshoumaru's eyes bleeding red before Kagura even finished speaking. She sat up and felt energy pouring out of her body into the air, her own vision slashed with red as he ripped at the grass once with his claws and then started to settle down- only to begin thrashing again with a loud snarl.

Kagura had been paralyzed by his venom when he'd marked her, so she pulled on the wind and make it try and restrain him now- maybe it would help? But instead the bonds only made his reaction more violent, telling her to stop. So long as he didn't hurt himself Kagura would let him to deal with the pain then, the sorceress sitting up slowly and watching him.

"Oh calm down." Staying too close earned her a livid glare and a rumbling growl, Kagura creeping back a bit to satisfy him. Not going very far, she started fixing her clothes slowly, pleased that he hadn't damaged the fabrics, but a little disappointed that they had stopped.

The smug satisfaction she'd felt when he first experienced the pain didn't last as long as she could have hoped. Having your body's energies torn around and shifted was unpleasant, she'd wanted him to endure the same thing- now she was thinking better of it. She'd wanted him to endure a _taste_ of what he'd put her through. The entire thing had been agonizing and slow, a whole night spent just having her body pounded with energy that burned hot and cold at the same time, fire and glass grinding through her skin...

So, really, she hadn't wanted him to go through it at all. He'd just had a big fight, and Kagura couldn't help but criticize her timing as she finished retying her black sash around her waist. Sesshoumaru should have been given a few hours to rest- a night or two to regain his strength and confidence completely.

Then she heard a particularly loud snarl and looked up to see him glaring at her again; the marks on his wrists, face, and the hidden set peeking up from around his hips all giving off a burst of white light as the red continued to concentrate and pour into his arm. Her marks woke up for a moment, oddly quiet throughout this, and Kagura understood:

Don't fucking pity him.

"I'm... going to go rest." She didn't know whether to explain or not, couldn't, or maybe didn't _want_ to go back far enough to figure out if she'd wondered where he was when she was enduring the storm of energy on that western beach. But Kagura made the admission anyways as she slowly stood up, bracing herself on a tree even though her wounds had been healed, even her left leg felt stronger than before. It was just that right now she felt weak. More red kept spilling out of her pores, and she hadn't slept all night: chased and hunted and threatened by the phoenix... Kagura was tired, and watching him like this didn't make things any easier.

She ignored the whimper that screamed out past his teeth as she left, not going more than a few yards off before she sat down in a patch of sunlight, resting with her back against another tree-trunk. She was still close enough to hear him, to be aware of him thrashing and clawing as the pain ignited his skin and agitated his muscles, but she couldn't see him anymore. And he'd be alright anyways: Sesshoumaru had survived Boreas' curse, he could handle this.

_'But can I?'_ Bringing her knees up and hugging her arms for a minute, Kagura rolled onto her hip and leaned against the smooth bark behind her, letting the sunlight warm her like a blanket. There was comfort in the sun.

_'I survived twelve years of waiting. I can handle this.'_

* * *

><p>Upon his return Sesshoumaru had made a vow of self-denial to hone his hunting instincts and improve his capabilities in battle. In the almost two months since making that vow the Demon Lord had decided that this had been to his detriment. Botched mating rituals aside, he had only received the clarity and power he so desired when his woman had come under direct physical threat, and the measures he had taken before that had only damaged his capabilities as a mate. Sesshoumaru had also never considered that another male would come within <em>tracking<em> _distance_ of Kagura, let alone accost her, _let alone_ do so more than once and live as long as Ryokijin had after the fact.

Taking all of this into consideration, Sesshoumaru had decided that vows of self-denial were now useless to him. The circumstances of his life had simply changed far too much for the techniques of his earlier years to satisfy his needs in the present. If it had been working properly, then Sesshoumaru's body would not have demanded sleep above all else once the torturous experience of being marked was complete.

It hadn't even been the pain itself that caused him to lash out so violently, but the nature of the energy itself. He was mated to a _wind_ demon, and the wind did not like being forced to abide within flesh. The energy she had filled him with had attacked every muscle in his body, forcing them to flex and contort despite every ounce of his focus being devoted to stilling those actions. Humiliating.

But after it was done Sesshoumaru hadn't even had the strength left to search Kagura out, let alone reach for his swords or armour. His amber eyes had simply stared up at the green, sunlit canopy overhead and then slid shut.

He woke up again after night had fallen, the pain in his body forgotten and for a moment his location a complete unknown. The only things he could smell were flower-petals and alpine air; Kagura's signature. He felt silk under his body and warmth from living flesh, the brush of fingertips caressing the marks on his forehead and face, a gentle touch on his wrist before he recognized the weight of an arm draped over his bare chest.

It felt like years before. Years and years ago when Naraku had already been slain and Kagura's spirit was just a breath of persistent wind. He remembered the caresses that hadn't really been there there and the words he couldn't actually hear, his ear now pressed over a beating heart kept inside a warm chest. So instead of rudely waking up to find the softness an illusion and his real bed a tree and some damp grass, Sesshoumaru could slowly slide his eyes open and permit a very tiny smile to grace his lips.

"Ah-_hem._" His eyes had just drifted shut again when the woman cradling his tired body made a deliberate sound. Blinking slowly, the night wasn't so dark that Sesshoumaru couldn't see, but he still needed a moment to understand why he was looking at a small silk pouch dangling from one of Kagura's fingers. "Care to explain, Sesshoumaru?"

"...No." She snorted at him and the Demon Lord moved his shoulders a little to straighten his spine, turning his face so he could catch just a bit more of her scent as he courted sleep. Kagura's long arms wrapped around him in the cool night and he felt her face bend down, red lips touching his cheek and jaw tenderly.

"Thank you for finding it." Finding... her comb. Yes, that was what he'd been keeping in the pouch. He had not forgotten... but he did miss the warmth of her face and breath as she pulled her head back up. Her fingers were there to brush back through his hair though, rounded nails running over his scalp soothingly. "How do you feel?" _Tired..._

"Warm." She stopped stroking and he felt her shift under him a little, prepared to ignore it when he felt her arm sliding away from across his chest. Sesshoumaru quickly caught her hand in one of his, stopping her. He had said warm, not hot. He tugged on her wrist until she stopped trying to pull away, settling back down so he could be comfortable. Her hand touched his left arm and he felt something, something that wasn't the same as when the same touch grazed the marks on his face.

There was warmth looped around his arm, not heat: warmth. It was hard to lift his other hand from where it was holding her knee, but he touched his own skin and moved his head sluggishly. Kagura rubbed his shoulder tenderly as he moved, the Demon Lord exhausted but curious; he wanted to see it, the mark staining his skin.

His scar had been covered in thick red dye, almost the same shade as the maroon further down on his wrists- or was it the same? In the dark, it was difficult to compare the hues, and he didn't care enough. There was an outline of silver highlighting the otherwise plain ribbon of red, and a circle of gold was buried in the muscle facing out, like a badge. This confused him, it was almost like the East Wind's rod; Sesshoumaru could tell the difference between flesh and gold, but if he simply ran his fingertips over the patch, he could hardly feel the change. And it wasn't a flat, blank design either; there was something patterned into the gold that he found vaguely familiar... like a certain seal.

"Mine changed too, just a little bit though." Kagura kissed his cheek again and Sesshoumaru let his examination end, settling down again with his head on her shoulder and his back resting against her chest. She nuzzled his face gently but he didn't answer, taking a slightly deeper breath as her scent washed over him. Rest, his battle-weary body needed to sleep, and his over-taxed mind needed calm.

But at least his swollen heart felt better. There was no aching burn or blurring of emotions, his thoughts were sluggish with the need for rest, but they were all clearly his own. A proper, tempered connection permitted only the warmth of his mate's affection to come through and sooth him from the inside. Sesshoumaru did not _need_ his wife's tenderness and care, but he received it, almost welcomed it, took ease and pleasure in the long sought-after caresses and strokes. He found the attention repetitive but comforting, a deep sound reverberating out of his chest as his eyes felt heavy and his woman cradled his willing body a little closer.

Closing his eyes slowly, they opened again after a few minutes and he found himself gazing off into the dark forest around them. Kagura was still awake, still holding him, fingertips brushing over his forehead, combing his hair, her red lips occasionally touching his skin. He could have slept but he didn't, not right away. He was, for the moment, content. It would not last, and he would have grown restless if expected to lounge and relax for more than a few hours, but yes. Right now, right here, yes. Sesshoumaru was happy.

_'I love this woman.'_

And so was his wife.

* * *

><p>Kagura did not come back until dawn the next day, leaving Kanna with the imp and the dragon. When Kagura and the Demon Lord came back, her sister looked different. She was clean and her gowns had been mended, she was healed and walking, she was smiling.<p>

The Demon Lord did not smile with Kagura. The Demon Lord did not smile at all.

Kanna did not smile at the Demon Lord. She did not smile at the imp or the dragon or Kagura.

The imp did not smile, but his spirit was trapped inside Kanna's mirror. Kanna did not expect him to smile.

"Release him."

Kanna did not release him. She looked at Kagura and saw her sister hide a smile behind her fan, nodding slightly and gesturing with one hand. Kanna did not know the gesture.

Kanna released the imp, and he began to scream and cry again.

The Demon Lord struck the imp, and the noise stopped. The Demon Lord then looked at Kanna and his gold eyes were like mirrors; they only reflected, did not describe. Kanna watched his eyes, and nodded when he told her she was going to stay with them. He then looked at the imp and the dragon and introduced Kagura to them briefly. This seemed strange, but the stirring went away.

The imp blubbered, but did not cry as he met his mistress.

Kagura placed an arm around Kanna's shoulders and gave a small half-hug. Kagura was wearing a white comb in her hair, one that had a silk flower holding a nest of topaz stones. Her remaining earring was hooked onto her sash like a charm, but Kanna had found the mate in the river while Kagura and the Demon Lord were gone. Kagura's face changed and she put the jewels back in her healed ears, the Demon Lord watching before he came closer. He touched the restored mementos with one hand, but said nothing and did not smile.

Kagura was smiling. Kagura was happy.

Kanna was happy.

* * *

><p><strong>It's like... really short but I can't help it. I added just enough content so this isn't pathetically tiny, but plot movement will come next chapter, not now. I figured there should be at least one rest chapter, no?<strong>


	16. II: Honourable Intentions

**Whole playlist, started with Imagine, With You, No More Words, Four Seasons, Together Again, Love the Way You Lie.**

* * *

><p><em><strong>To Make Things Right<strong>_

Honourable Intentions

"Lord Sesshoumaru! I would be honoured to serve alongside-"

"I have no need of you."

"Please reconsider, my lord!"

To be completely honest, Kagura had been a bit startled when the furry monstrosity known as Royukan came charging across the barren prairies at them. With his gargantuan eyes and large, shaggy appearance, Kagura had mistaken him for an armour-wearing bear that came to throw himself at Sesshoumaru's feet. Appearances aside however, something about watching the over-sized gerbil tear up and start to cry as the Dog General walked past him just destroyed the demon's credibility. Hearing him continue to babble after Sesshoumaru just made it worse.

"I could protect m'lord's wife and child!" Wife and _what?_

"Sister." Kagura opened her mouth and then closed it, Jaken's squawk cut off in mid-breath as Sesshoumaru stopped walking and managed a sharp glance back at the owl-eyed beast. But Kanna beat all three of them, the glass girl seated on Un's back behind Jaken. Her black eyes had been watching the exchange, but her soft voice corrected Royukan before he could blubber something else. "I am the sister of Lord Sesshoumaru's wife."

"Royukan." Kagura opened her fan and sneered behind the green silk, hearing the tension in Sesshoumaru's voice as he addressed the lumbering fool. "Now that the Phoenix Clan has scattered, what use have I for an army?" The demon's response was a garbled mix of excuses and pleading. "If the panther tribe chooses to return a third time, I will call on you."

"B-But they swore to never-"

"Are you questioning my judgement, Royukan?"

Kagura tried not to laugh as Un started walking again, the wind-witch keeping pace with the massive beast as they passed the Demon Lord and his cowering subject. Jaken's little green beak was up in the air and Kagura just closed her eyes as they walked, adding further insult to the crippling injury already dealt to the demon commander's reputation. After a few more minutes and a loud, heart-broken wail later, Sesshoumaru caught up with them where they'd paused on the bank of a dry creek.

"The poor thing. Did you kill him, Sesshoumaru?"

"No."

"I hadn't even known Commander Royukan was still alive, m'lord! Everyone thought he died after his forest was burnt down." A proper guardian probably _would _have died, in Kagura's opinion.

"He has a cowardly heart." Kanna's judgement seemed to end the conversation, the glass girl swaying with Un's lumbering steps as they moved down the small incline and Sesshoumaru reclaimed his place at the head of the small party. The smooth stones underfoot crunched and whispered under his feet as he walked, Kagura minding her steps until they came to a small dip in the land. Jaken's staff started laughing, a sound she always found a bit unsettling, and the party stopped.

"This is it, my lord." Sesshoumaru was already moving off into the small cave worn into the hills, Kagura following as Un knelt down for a rest. Kanna and Jaken knew to stay behind.

"Every stream and field has to be yours, huh?" She asked, coming up into the tiny cavern where a trickle of clear water was dribbling out past the entrance.

"They are my lands." Smiling behind her fan as she watched him look down into the shallow pool sitting in the back of the cave, the spring was almost stagnant with the lack of movement. But he would fix that soon enough.

With Ryokijin dead and their mating issues resolved, Sesshoumaru had devoted himself back to the complete restoration of his lands. There was only one other powerful demonic presence to deal with in order to reestablish his territories completely, but the Demon Lord's mother hadn't dominated any of the southern lands: they had been the Phoenix's hold. Sesshoumaru had already told her that he would not suffer the mistakes of the past and attempt to establish a weak network of influence across a vast distance. He wanted his lands to be under his complete domination, then he would expand them. The power-vacuum was going to be filled, and that meant capturing the south and east territories first.

Inuyasha would be pleased with this; it meant he would stop having to worry about phoenixes trying to blaze over his little village. Now it would be the same threat as always: Sesshoumaru.

"_I remember..."_

Closing her fan as her thoughts were interrupted by the distant voice, Kagura slid the silk into her sash and folded her arms patiently. She watched the water ripple before a face she could barely see formed from the reflection and movement; another spirit tired of being ravished by fire and hate. She heard the guardian sigh softly as a few white motes of energy drifted up from the clear surface and lit the darkness.

"_Peace... I sense peace... strength... faith... A new pact can be forged."_

Sometimes, like in the forest, Sesshoumaru had to break his old pact in order to form a new one. But the rest of the time the old one had already been violated and broken by the Demon Lord's prolonged absence: this was one such situation. The spring simply couldn't trust Sesshoumaru enough after last time to form a new bond with him without Kagura restored to his side. Truth be told, if her mate hadn't humbled himself so desperately after killing Ryokijin, Kagura's faith might have been a little damaged too. But nothing could make Sesshoumaru break down like that, no territory, insult, or prize.

And if she still doubted it, all Kagura had to do was graze the little bundle of emotion buried in her chest. Like sliding open a door, her mind's eye could peer out into a field of yellow flowers at any time and see him standing there. His heart was hers to watch and look over, Kagura just made it a rule to keep that door closed most of the time: it was unnerving sometimes to see in his heart what wasn't playing out on his face.

"What will restore our bond?"

"_Drink. Provide for your mate what I provide for you, forever." _It was always a silly, simple little ritual like this. Kagura had already performed at least a dozen of these acts with Sesshoumaru since their reunion several weeks ago. But they were bringing the Western Lands to life, so she didn't mind kneeling down next to him and letting Sesshoumaru pour water from his hands into her cupped palms. When the spirit made a noise she just looked down into the pool and spoke.

"I'm not going to drink straight out of his hands, even the protected deserve a little dignity." The first time she had argued with a spirit Sesshoumaru had looked at her like an insolent fool. He hated being told what to do, hated having to impress tiny essences and sprites, but Kagura hated acting submissive and dumb even more.

Besides, when the water in her hands turned a luminous white with the spirit's power, it was as good as an approving nod for arguing. Kagura was, apparently, some sort of representation for the pact: if he couldn't protect and defend and provide for a mate, how could he watch over his territories?

Sesshoumaru had mentioned a seal so many times that her head had started to spin, but aside from the little circle of gold resting between her breasts she had no idea what he was talking about. He described a slab of gold bigger than Kanna's mirror and weighing almost as much as Un, and Kagura had flatly stated that the golden mark hadn't changed and _wasn't _growing and _so help him Fujin if it started to. _Gold was heavy, if Sesshoumaru thought she was going to start carrying Un around on her back to help his territory then he was losing his mind.

Drinking the glowing water when he did, it tasted no different than any other spring. A little cooler, a little sweeter, but still the same. The difference was the cold rush that spread through her ribs before surges of white and blue energy started ripping away from the demon next to her. Kagura didn't get up or run away from the display, it ignored her completely and she'd learned not to panic as Sesshoumaru's eyes flashed red and his hair and clothing were disturbed by a chaotic wind.

But Kagura _did _stand up as the water in the spring became unsettled and started to gush. The frothing liquid swiftly spilled over its shallow rim and went cascading out the cave mouth. It carried ash and dust with it at first, turning the initial wave a dirty black colour, but that was soon washed away. The spirit was laughing as Sesshoumaru's energy calmed and he stood up next to her, minding the ceiling so he didn't bump his silver head as they turned to leave.

He did grab her arm quickly just before Kagura stepped through the opening back into daylight though, surprising her for a moment before the watery face and body of the spirit reared up and erupted out the narrow opening with a burst of spray and light. The wind-witch didn't mean to, but when she looked at her mate and saw Sesshoumaru's hair and face dripping wet she burst out laughing; her back was a little dirty from being pushed against the cave wall, but at least she hadn't been soaked.

"_Thank you._" She cooed, wrapping an arm up around his neck quickly, the witch rose onto her toes to kiss his lips. Kagura didn't take issue with the lack of response from her drenched mate; a brief return all she felt against her lips. Her other hand moved appreciatively over the smooth front of his armour where the horns had been removed by a bemused Totosai, and then she let go.

When they returned to the others Kagura was surprised when Jaken didn't leap up and begin cawing at them about something. However, she then realized that the imp's round yellow eyes were wide open and sightless; a clear sign that he was either dead, or had been sucked into Kanna's mirror again.

"You know, I think he really does annoy her..." It was such a strange thought, thinking of Kanna being irritated by something. Sesshoumaru didn't reply to her comment though, simply continued walking until Kanna looked up from where she had been standing in the now ankle-deep water. The glass demon lifted her mirror carefully, and with a subtle flash Jaken was restored again. The Demon Lord didn't need to order her to release him anymore, the imp gasping for breath before he jumped up and started waving the Staff of Two Heads at Kanna.

"You mischievous child how _dare _you seal me inside that awful mirror again I should-!"

"_Jaken._" Just hearing his name in Sesshoumaru's voice was enough to shut the servant up, as usual. Jaken simply grumbled low in the back of his throat, climbing up into Un's saddle as the dragon slowly stood up. Kanna also reclaimed her seat on the beast's back as they started walking again, her presence causing the imp to begin sweating and fidgeting nervously- but there was nothing he could do about it.

Yes, it was a little boring to move from one spirit to the next with nothing in between, but Kagura didn't feel the need to complain. Not when she could look down the path of the creek and see the clear water reflecting the blue sky overhead, cutting across the dull grey of the prairie. There was satisfaction in watching tufts of grass push out of the scarred ground behind them as they meticulously travelled the breadth of the Western Lands.

Because to think, he just had one more battle, and then it would all be his again.

* * *

><p>"Lord Sesshoumaru!"<p>

In the autumn winds blowing through the dormant stalks of charcoal and reviving wood, the Demon Lord had sensed the figure's approach long before the others following him heard the voice. He didn't chance a look back at Kagura as a feline growl filtered through the air, but knew his mate's eyes were focused on the clouded sky.

Sesshoumaru knew who it was, and to be frank he was surprised it had taken Kohaku this long to come and find him.

"Is that really...?"

"Seventeen years, Kagura." She fell quiet after he spoke the words, Jaken climbing up on Un's head to get a better look at the incoming demon and her rider.

"Humans age so quickly! I don't think I've seen Kohaku since before m'lord's absence!" Perhaps that explained the delay then. If Kohaku hadn't come to Inuyasha's village for the half-year Jaken had been under the mongrel's protection, then that might excuse him for taking such a long time.

Kirara, the flying cat-demon who had fought alongside the Demon Slayers' head-family for generations, was unchanged in appearance as the sabre-toothed feline dropped out of the grey sky and landed on the scorched ground several yards ahead of Sesshoumaru. Her twin tails were burning with demonic fire, her black paws extinguishing their flames as they touched down. The war-markings on her pale fur were familiar to the Demon Lord, but far from a threat. He needed only meet the cat's red eyes to confirm that she was not comfortable with the idea of fighting him.

This did not bode well for her rider.

"Lord Sesshoumaru I... I can hardly believe it." Sesshoumaru was reminded of the changes which had overcome Rin when he looked at Kohaku. The difference was that where the woman's maturity had enhanced the budding beauty of the child, the man who climbed off the feline's back now was completely different from the boy who had protected the final Shikon shard.

Kohaku was nearly thirty, and as a man he had developed the powerful muscles which female humans rarely came to possess. He was shorter than the Demon Lord, but Sesshoumaru didn't doubt that if they had stood next to one another that Kohaku's shoulders would have been wider, the skin-tight black of his slayer's gear leaving little to the imagination. He was a heavy man, muscle and tendon conditioned for the stresses of battle; but he was still human. He favoured his right leg with just enough swing for the Demon Lord to sense an old wound, his elbows permanently bent from the practised motion of swinging and throwing the large kusarigama, the sickle blade, resting on his back.

His black hair was long enough to be tied back into a small tail behind the human's head, his strongly-angled face sporting a single long scar along the right side of his jaw. A thin black beard and similar moustache gave his expression an even more grim appearance than the emotion in his dark eyes already accounted for. But he was also surprised, Sesshoumaru permitting the man to take a few moments to stare at the women in the Demon Lord's wake.

"Lady Kagura- Lady _Kanna_, I... How?" He did not interrupt the conversation, enough of Kohaku's emotions were bleeding out through his pores for the Dog General to understand his purpose here. If the sisters wanted to speak with him, Sesshoumaru would permit it.

"Our spirits are no longer connected to Naraku." Kanna spoke softly, alleviating at least one facet of the human's anxiety. "We are free." There was absolutely no emotion in the glass girl's voice, but something in her face and eyes must have spoken to Kohaku; Sesshoumaru did not turn around to look at her. His gaze was pulled to the side as he heard Kagura's light steps bring the dancer up beside him. There was no contact, but she was close. Close enough to indicate that she knew something was wrong, close enough to take comfort from him. Very well.

"Lady Kagura... I never expected to see you again."

"I don't think I ever expected to see anyone again, really." She answered casually, her fan out and flipping lazily back and forth over her wrist. No, she was tense, Sesshoumaru could read it when he wasn't busy watching Kohaku's eyes follow the green silk. Before the human's eyes could bring him trouble however, Kohaku swiftly lowered them to the black ground.

"Allow me to apologize for what happened. My life was spared because of your actions."

"Hmph, it was a long time ago, Kohaku." She'd known what she was getting into, betraying both Naraku and Moryomaru as she had. The Demon Lord felt an ounce of compassion but crushed it, focusing his attention back on the demon slayer as Kohaku struggled with her answer- and his real purpose.

"Lord Sesshoumaru..."

"The conflict weakens you." He said the words slowly, considering them as he watched the human's hands slowly ball into fists, head still down in a show of rage- but it was not pure enough. Kohaku already lacked conviction. "Stay."

Speaking the word to the pack behind him, Sesshoumaru began walking and passed Kohaku's tortured form without a sidelong glance. Kirara growled at him instinctively as he neared her master, but Sesshoumaru continued on; telling the human to follow him without actually speaking the command. He neither knew nor cared whether the feline came along, but admitted to some minor surprise when the fire cat was made to stay back with the women and Jaken.

Sesshoumaru closed the door to his heart from Kagura as the distance between them increased. He was not quite sure what surprises would come from this meeting with Kohaku, but was aware enough of the man's conflict to be wary of their mutual reaction. This was between men.

"You have come to die." He spoke only after the others had been left far enough behind that even Sesshoumaru's nose could hardly catch Kagura's fragrant scent over the ash. The two had walked until the scarred trees gave way to a ring of pebbled ground; a dry lake-bed where the silt had been fired down to form a hard, glassy surface. Glancing over his shoulder to see Kohaku's dark eyes focused on him sternly, the Demon Lord didn't turn all the way, barely twisting enough that the pauldron over his left arm was facing the demon slayer.

"Lord Sesshoumaru... Is it true that you slew Ryokijin once and for all? Did you really free the south from him so you could re-establish yourself?" Yes, this was true. But not the motivations Kohaku described.

"I killed him for my pride, and my honour." He was not so weak as to hide the threat of disgrace from another warrior, even one who stood so far below him in terms of ability and power. However, Sesshoumaru was not going to describe Kagura's involvement. He would not sully her reputation.

"Will you also slay the Woman of the North? Lady Inukimi?" Mother...

"No."

"Why not? Ryokijin demolished and scarred the Western Lands, but Lady Inukimi has terrorized every demon and human settlement in the land for years since you left. The only difference between them is-"

"-blood." His heritage was not common knowledge outside the demonic circles where such things would be relevant. Kohaku didn't appear openly surprised or confused, but his understanding was not clear and Sesshoumaru did not feel compelled to use Lady Inukimi's filial title. "I owe a life to the Northern Demoness, I will not disgrace myself by killing one I am indebted to." But he would clear that debt, of this he was certain. "This is not why you sought me out."

"No, it isn't."

"What will you accomplish by attempting to kill me, Kohaku?" For harming Rin, the woman Kohaku loved. The violent emotions stirring in the human's gut were not unfamiliar to the Demon Lord. "You and I are not evenly matched, and you have even rejected the aid of your flying companion. What will your death provide for her?" Because Sesshoumaru would not spare his life if the human in front of him attacked. He had no reason to endure such a pathetic insult to his strength. Kohaku was a competent, powerful demon slayer, he could not have survived so long otherwise, but Kohaku was human. And a human could not defeat him.

"My life has no value to Rin."

"Then hers should not mean so much to you." There was a flash of insult down the man's spine, but Sesshoumaru ignored spurned love. "The human child I revived and protected valued all life and stood in awe of all power. Under Inuyasha's care, or simply through the influence of living with her own kind, that child grew into a woman who desired a life never promised to her, and her heart became something poisoned with resentment when those dreams were never fulfilled. Do not stain your spirit with the same brush."

"Listen to you!" The human shouted, indignation etched into the lines of his face. Despite the insult, the Demon Lord decided he would allow Kohaku to share his piece. "Gone for twelve years and abandoning us to war- now making your return to judge and scold everything that happened without you! _Without you! _You were dead to everyone but Rin- you were her poison! Kagura and Kikyo were my guilty burden to bear, but Rin's carried her loyalty to you around for over half her life! And you destroyed that!"

Sesshoumaru was quiet, watching as Kohaku stopped for breath, his entire body tense and ready to move if the Demon Lord gave any indication of engaging in a fight. In his mind, Sesshoumaru was taking in what had been said, the inflections and stresses in Kohaku's voice that could denote lies or exaggeration. Ultimately these small signals meant little to him, but their presence, or lack thereof, encouraged his temper to be still without Tenseiga's interference.

He was being asked, or rather demanded, to explain himself. The Demon Lord's immediate reaction was to scoff and ignore such a demeaning order. If the human was so incensed as to attack Sesshoumaru to defend Rin's honour, then he was well within his poorly considered right to do so, but Kohaku could not force him to bend and justify his actions verbally. An explanation would not satisfy as well as killing the wrong-doer. Sesshoumaru knew this first-hand: understanding _why _Ryokijin had harassed Kagura had not helped assuage the Demon Lord's catastrophic rage.

However... and now Tenseiga did murmur at his side. Not strongly, not a complete pulse or an attention-grabbing yelp. But the sword did draw his attention back to an earlier, dominating point. Sesshoumaru had been capable of destroying the Phoenix Lord. Kohaku had no such hopes here.

The Demon Lord's empathy could not extend that far. He could not fathom being unable to act and protect what was-

Wait.

No. He could.

He could understand what it meant to be crushed under the heel of another, a superior, a better. He knew that torment. Sesshoumaru understood the bittersweet thankfulness of being shown mercy, and the crushing shame of not being worth the effort to kill. He knew what that felt like. He knew what Kohaku felt like.

His teeth pulled away from one another without disturbing his lips, then those started to stretch and purse, finally opening. His tongue remained flat behind his teeth, his lungs empty of air- then the muscles contracted and a sound crawled up out of his chest.

"I tried-" He spoke both words slowly, not loudly, but with enough strength that over his frustration Kohaku could hear him, the human glaring at him with a myriad of torturous emotions flashing over his face. "-to choose Rin. I tried." Confusion and a reserved brand of fear, almost concern, slowly crept up to dominate the human. But he remained silent. Sesshoumaru was explaining. "The storm twelve years ago tore away something I had been told I could only wait for. I went to Rin so I could forget, but she was not enough. I waged war to dominate Inuyasha's southern border and protect her, but I was not satisfied. I left because I did not have what I wanted."

"Where did you go?" Kagura. Kagura was the only one who knew the answer to that question. Not Jaken, Un, or Rin had been told. He had not explained himself to Inuyasha. Sesshoumaru had told no one.

"West." Sesshoumaru was telling Kohaku. "I chased the storm with the Wind God's blessing, and was carried all the way to the other side of the world."

"The same storm?"

"I had to find her." Had to, not wanted to. Sesshoumaru had wanted to choose Rin, but he had needed to find Kagura. The look Kohaku was giving him did not rile the Demon Lord's temper, there was an ounce of sympathy, but more than anything there was empathy- a far more tolerable emotion. The human in front of him did not need to understand the circumstances, the intense need to provide and defend was the same for both men. As a demon, Sesshoumaru was simply more capable of answering that call... except that; "I succeeded in locating her spirit in the storm, however, I failed to destroy the fiend at its heart."

"What?" The man's eyes did not hold the shock and disbelief of his boyhood. Kohaku had seen too much, knew too well how powerful warriors could be brought down and defeated. Sesshoumaru was alert for signs of mockery or disrespect, but the slayer was wise: whatever he felt beyond mild confusion and concern over the testimony was well hidden. "You... lost?"

Sesshoumaru had closed his mouth while Kohaku digested what he had been told, and now found that his teeth would not part again as they had before. His lips refused to stretch and come away from one another. A flash of irritation shot through his system, fuelled both by lowering himself to the point of explanation, and also that he found such a simple act so abominable. There was a sudden change in the human's face, Kohaku not going so far as to stare and gape out-right, but his surprise was clear.

"You... were sealed." The Demon Lord felt his hackles instantly rise. He had said no such thing. "Forgive me, Lord Sesshoumaru, but your face was just so much like Inuyasha's for a moment. The same look he gets whenever he thinks of the years spent sleeping under the sacred tree... but from you, it's more potent."

"...Inuyasha lost nothing in his slumber." Nothing but the few ounces of respect Sesshoumaru had been unwilling to award his half-brother anyways. Simply speaking the words confirmed Kohaku's suspicion, and the human seemed to need a moment to comprehend this. Of course Sesshoumaru felt more strongly when reminded: Inuyasha had not awoken to fire and disgrace.

"Lord Sesshoumaru," What? "Will you bring peace to the Western Lands?"

"Peace is an illusion." Especially when asked of a Demon Lord, such things were-

"Then will you bring back the stability so many of us remember?" Kohaku's voice was harsh and Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes critically at the human, watching as the slayer in front of him was remarkably slow to back down after his outburst. "One Demon Lord in control of the Western Lands, defending them, expanding them. Is that your goal?"

"I do not need to explain my goals to you, human."

"_Please._" He watched Kohaku's face change back and forth a few times after the word broke through the still air. Finally, the human slowly pulled one foot back and then knelt down, both knees on the scorched ground, hands down in front of him and far away from his weapons. Sesshoumaru just watched. "Lord Sesshoumaru, you were never one to terrorize or attack the humans in your territory, please, please tell me if you still feel the same way towards my kind." There was nothing endearing about Kohaku's behaviour, but somehow watching him bow down before the Demon Lord and ask his meek question in such a low voice... Hmph.

"My views have not changed." Humans were not something to protect, nor were they important enough to destroy. It would be like waging a campaign to annihilate all toad and frog demons: possible but entirely useless.

"Then please, Lord Sesshoumaru." Kohaku bent his elbows and lowered his weight down onto his hand, bowing until his hair was low enough to dust the ground. "This human asks for the honour to serve and fight in your name." ... For a number of reasons, the Demon Lord had not anticipated this.

"You are mortal." And a demon slayer; pledging himself to a mononoke did not make much sense. In fact it was probably even traitorous. Did his family know of this? Did such a thing matter to Sesshoumaru?

"My lord-" A precise phrase which Kohaku had not used since he was a boy and under Sesshoumaru's guardianship. "-I am a man who has no future amongst my own kind." The slayer wasn't looking at him directly, but had lifted his head just enough that Sesshoumaru could begin to see his face. The human kept his eyes down low, perhaps no higher than the Demon Lord's feet. "All that is left in my life is to hunt and destroy any demons threatening the innocent people I swore years ago to defend. I know that Lady Kagura desired nothing more than freedom from Naraku, and my lord is too honourable to pass judgement and then act against it." Meaning Sesshoumaru and Kagura would not begin slaughtering humans on a whim. They were, in some ludicrous sense, '_good' _demons. "Please my lord, I will do anything to prove myself."

"And what of your convictions for the woman?" Kohaku had come here prepared to fight and die against Sesshoumaru for Rin, was he so frightened of his own mortality?

"If I can do no more good in this life, then yes, I will give it for Rin." So he would still fight Sesshoumaru. "But if I can be of some use in calming the Western Lands, and slaying the demons running in the wake of Lady Inukimi, then..."

Then Rin would not be burdened with the life of a man she never loved. The Demon Lord could only feel scepticism over whether or not the woman he had left wounded in the village was capable of acknowledging the weight of that burden. But then he remembered, just for a moment, the memory of a child's smile and the carefree laugh of a soul that had known both terror and joy. The memory darted like a spectre clothed in orange and green between the charcoal trees, one small brown pig-tail bouncing with bare-foot steps, a familiar dance performed on tip-toes and to an ever-changing song.

Sesshoumaru had already stained that innocent, forgotten soul with blood. Kohaku did not want to forsake her the same way.

He turned properly and began to walk across the distance separating him from Kohaku. His steps were slow and even, tarnished yellow eyes watching the human remain in his humble position. He didn't cower as Sesshoumaru drew within easy striking distance, or sit up once the Demon Lord was nearly abreast with him. Looking down at him as he kept watching, the General reached his right hand up and stroked the silken mantel of his fur.

"I have no need of you." Kohaku was human, humans did not make good, reliable, worthwhile servants. They were poor soldiers, prone to age, disease, and death. The human's body gave no outward response, but he heard Kohaku's heart slow for a moment before beginning to beat rapidly, his breaths catching and then going deep as his mind processed the emotions this declaration brought, struggling to hide his reaction.

Sesshoumaru stopped only a step behind the human, his hand still touching the tan fleece as he glanced down over his pauldron. Kohaku was still kneeling, he could see the man's feet and back.

"Ask my woman." And then he kept walking.

* * *

><p><strong>There, I was gonna get Kohaku his air-time again if it killed me. Poor bastard got completely cut out of the story, I didn't even write the scene where Sesshoumaru officially rejected Rin and collected Jaken.<strong>

**Reposted on July 24th, fixed some grammar and a typo.**


	17. II: Thinner Than Water

**California King Bed, District 9 Main Theme, Someone to Protect, Fast Inuyasha Playlist, The Only One.**

**I'd do review responses if most of you guys weren't lurking anonymously, so it's just easier for me to put a reply here since you guys said the same thing:**

**I still technically have the draft of Rin's rejection chapter saved on my laptop, but I never completed it and just went with Sesshoumaru's semi-flash-back to share the events instead. It's what I was tangling with back in chapters 7-8-9, so while I might (MIGHT) re-hash those three at a later date and put Rin back in her place, it'll probably be after I finish the rest of the story first. You'd basically see another chapter go live after this is complete, content bumping from 8 through to whateveritgetsto.**

* * *

><p><em><strong>To Make Things Right<strong>_

Thinner than Water

Travelling with demons was not the same as moving about on your own or with other humans. Kohaku was aware of this even before he surprised Lady Kagura by requesting to become her servant, but it was still a difficult adjustment. In his boyhood, Lord Sesshoumaru had frequently stopped to give Rin time to rest, or had simply left her alone with Jaken and Ah-Un -and later Kohaku himself- when he needed to travel and fight across long distances. Now Kohaku was the only human in the strange entourage, so it would have been foolish to expect them to stop for him.

There wasn't much fighting, and when an occasional threat arose Lord Sesshoumaru usually took care of it himself, rarely permitting those below him to engage. The demonic nuisance had to be particularly negligible, and more annoying than serious for Kohaku's kusarigama to leave his back.

The surreal feeling he got whenever he heard Lady Kagura's voice or saw Kanna riding on Un's back didn't go away like he'd expected. Kohaku had been told what happened to Ah in the village before he'd struck out on his own, but the dragon still looked strange to his eyes and the glass demon's appearance had bemused Kirara's senses for at least a few days. It was one thing to be in the presence of the Demon Lord, Kohaku had lived an extraordinary childhood and Lord Sesshoumaru had kept him alive in the thick of it. But although he had never _seen_ Lady Kagura's death, he had been directly responsible for it. He couldn't get over seeing the woman again, alive, well, and happy. So, completely _happy:_ it made Kohaku wonder sometimes if he hadn't actually been knocked unconscious instead and was lying in coma somewhere, that this was all just a fever dream. Kohaku always expected to wake up whenever something resembling affection passed between the sorceress and the stoic Dog General.

Mind you, those instances were exceedingly rare; for every four demons Kohaku was given leave to kill, he perhaps saw one betrayal of interest pass between the pair. There were the very rare times when he thought he saw the Demon Lord's wife reach out and touch one of the marks on Sesshoumaru's face or wrists, although he noticed consistently that when they weren't travelling Lord Sesshoumaru would always make sure he standing over or beside his woman. His temper for her teasing also didn't surprise Kohaku as much as it flabbergasted Jaken; he remembered watching the Demon Lord and Rin together, so it felt the same way except that Sesshoumaru responded a great deal more to his woman than he ever had to his ward.

Their relationship wouldn't have been clear to him at all if Kohaku hadn't listened to Jaken and Kanna speak and address one another. Without hearing Jaken give reverence to the sisters, or that one time watching Kanna address Lord Sesshoumaru as a marriage brother, Kohaku would have thought himself imagining all of it. The looks, the touches, the attentiveness, it was subtle and so infrequent that he really could have either been making it all up in his mind or gone on completely oblivious. It was well into the autumn months before the pair even left the party alone for a full night. Kohaku had hardly noticed when Lady Kagura wandered off under the moonlight until, a few minutes later, Lord Sesshoumaru vanished as well.

It was so strange, reliving a part of his childhood that now had such different facets added on to it. They weren't travelling around looking for sacred jewel shards, there was no ominous presence of Naraku pulling the strings and spreading dissent. Lord Sesshoumaru was reclaiming his territory one patch of char at a time, and Kohaku was there to help calm the few over-wrought human settlements they came across. They met with the Oyster _Daiyokai,_ Hosenki, and he and Lord Sesshoumaru came to an easy agreement, free of fighting.

"_You know what I want, Lord Sesshoumaru. I want to remain here in my father's lake and harvest my gem stones without interruption or threat. As an apprentice jewel-maker I don't have much to offer you- yet. But if you want tribute, then take this..."_

Lord Sesshoumaru gave Hosenki's pearl to Lady Kagura. Sometimes, but not often, Kohaku would see her pull the perfectly formed sphere of pale, creamy light out of her sash and hold it in the palm of her hand. Demon love was not the same as human love, but Kohaku never doubted the existence of either: he just avoided the latter.

Unless he needed food for himself that couldn't be managed on the wastes or scrounged up from the bordering countryside, Kohaku avoided contact with his own kind. If he was going to live without Rin, then he was going to live without causing Sango any grief over it. Kohaku wasn't as alone as his sister feared. His job was to hunt demons, and right now the greatest threat that he knew of was Lady Inukimi.

"This wasn't always here, was it?" Huh?

It was raining over the grey plains of the Western Lands as the party stopped, Lady Kagura voicing the question as they stood there. The water helped the abused ground wash away and mix the ashes with the soil, encouraging the land to begin to live and breathe again, but it was still a nuisance when travelling. They were standing right on the boundary now, the battlefield where Ryokijin and Inukimi had waged their last fight before returning to the south and north respectively.

"No." Before them was a deep, black gulley, a canyon that had been formed when the two _Daiyokai_ clashed and the landscape had buckled and rent itself trying to deal with the conflicting forces. It extended east and west for miles, and in the rain now there was water sheeting down the muddy sides of the rift, pooling out of sight down in the darkness. The south side, where they stood now, had been formally claimed by Ryokijin- and now once again belonged to Lord Sesshoumaru. But the north was still Lady Inukimi's.

Kohaku found the rain cold under his grey-green yukata, the wind threatening to blow the broad, conical form of his straw hat off his head before he adjusted the strap. He climbed stiffly down off Kirara's wet back as she changed shape, the fire cat quickly jumping into his arms to avoid any more of the rain. She only wanted a short rest before transforming again to carry him over the canyon, nuzzling under his arm inside his clothes and shaking herself to rid her yellow fur of the water.

The other demons didn't seem to mind or even notice the downpour; the raindrops kept making a light tinkering noise as they struck Kanna's glass head, and Jaken's sodden form was still standing tall and on alert atop Un's head, gazing out at the gulley. The sound of the rain hid Lady Kagura's voice from Kohaku where she and Lord Sesshoumaru were standing right at the edge of the cliff, but even with the falling night he could see her lips moving. It wasn't clear whether Lord Sesshoumaru answered her or not, but then Lady Kagura took a step closer to her husband and Kohaku saw him turn his head a little, looking at her.

"Once we cross out of the southern territory, Lady Inukimi could attack at any time!" Jaken stated, squawking for what Kohaku supposed was his benefit. The retainer hopped around on Un's head in order to face both him and Kanna, so that probably meant yes. "Lord Sesshoumaru will have to do battle with his own mother if he hopes to reclaim his palace- or rather the remains of it. Ryokijin was the one who-"

"I think Inuyasha told me about that when I went back to the village." Not a pleasant visit, to be sure, but Kohaku's comment stopped Jaken's exposition. The toad did like to talk a lot, didn't he? "You explained the destruction of the castle to his family, and Lady Kagome related the tale to me when I saw them."

"Well that's not what's important now is it! ?" The toad shrieked, bouncing again until he smacked Un's head by accident with the base of the Nintoujou- the dragon made an irritated sound and bent his neck, sending the imp shrieking to the muddy ground. "You fools!" Kohaku wasn't the one with mud on his face, but the grime couldn't dissuade Jaken from hopping back up and pointing the staff at both him and Kanna. "Don't you realize that with two women and a human to look after now, Lord Sesshoumaru will be even more harshly pressed to-"

_Crack!_

Lord Sesshoumaru's aim, as always, was impeccable. Kohaku resisted the urge to clap as the rock bounced off Jaken's skull and sent the imp back down into the mud, the retainer very slow to pick himself back up a second time. Instead, he just looked back over at where the Demon Lord and Lady Kagura were standing, the two half-facing them with the Lady's green fan open and obscuring the bottom half of her face. It meant that she was either frowning or smiling, or perhaps too torn to commit to either expression.

"From here, we fly." No more walking then? Kohaku nodded and looked down at where Kirara had pulled her long snout out from the crook of his arm, the fire cat huffing briefly before giving an affirmative coo. Un lowered its head down and nudged jaken with its muzzled snout, the imp sitting in the mud and watching his master for a moment before quickly scrambling up onto the dragon's back again, holding the reins in his green hand as Kanna remained unmoving in the modified saddle.

_'He's on the hunt now._' Kohaku saw the change in the Demon Lord before Sesshoumaru finished turning around, his stance altering just enough that the straight lines of his back and shoulders became more strictly defined. His face was always blank, but now it became cold as he regarded Lady Kagura briefly, then looked away from her and up into the grey sky.

The Demon Lord's body just seemed to lighten until he was floating in the air, Lady Kagura pulling one of the feathers from her hair as a gust of wind kicked up from her feet and carried her up after him. Kirara jumped down out of his arms and gave a low growl before fire and light wrapped around her tiny body and signalled her transformation, Kohaku climbing onto her back and letting the rain pelt him mercilessly as he was carried up into the sky after the demons.

So Lord Sesshoumaru was hunting his own mother? Kohaku hadn't known that, but now his hesitation to kill Lady Inukimi made sense to him. Human blood was supposed to be thicker than water: did the same loyal hierarchy exist for demons? Considering the battles waged between Lord Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha years before, the slayer found himself doubtful.

But if Sesshoumaru was going to stop the slaughter regardless of blood, then Kohaku would make it his business not to judge either way.

'_This is my side now.'_

* * *

><p>Sesshoumaru didn't care about anything after crossing the boundary except finding his mother. He would expel her from his territory this time, he had no intentions of simply conversing as they had when he went to see her before. She had simply mocked his youth and ambition, challenged him openly and criticized his lack of Tenseiga. By her standards he had taken a grave step down in competency by not wielding the compassionate blade at his side.<p>

His mother was skilled at making him angry, insulting him, forcing him to feel low. Last time his temper had overwhelmed his sense completely and Sesshoumaru had, unwisely, listened to Bakusaiga's railing. He'd found his restored left arm caught in Inukimi's jaws and nearly had the limb torn off a second time before pain cleared his mind enough to make him flee.

That would not happen again. Sesshoumaru had never lost twice to one opponent before and his patience with his mother were so finely worn that he did not even know if he'd be able to spare her life as he intended.

That Ryokijin's phoenixes and Inukimi had continued to battle was obvious as his pack moved across the devastated wastelands. There was some smug satisfaction, tinged with disgust in seeing that his mother had not been able to successfully rid herself of the remains of Ryokijin's flock. After all, without relying on the elements to do the job for her, his mother's only option would be to continuously kill each individual bird however many tens of times it would take to exhaust them to death.

And even then, the strong could still survive.

"There?" They flew through the night and the rain was still falling when he heard Kagura speak up behind him. He glanced back at her for only a moment before returning his attention to what was ahead of him. In the rain he still had difficulty tracking, but Kagura was picking up on something else coming through in the wind, Sesshoumaru only able to notice the pockets of hot and cold air colliding in the streams around him. The place they were coming near... he knew this landscape.

_'Totosai's volcano...?'_ Ah, then perhaps this was why the swordsmith had run off to Inuyasha's territory. The mountain appeared slowly as dawn fought to break through the clouds, steam and smoke gushing from the shattered top of the volcano and giving the illusion of causing the storm. _'I can smell her through the rain.'_

So his mother was still actively trying to remove the phoenixes from the area. There was no temptation to simply leave Inukimi to her fate against the fire birds, honour making a statement over his injured pride. If his mother should die then it would be against him, not members of that Phoenix Lord's family. Sesshoumaru would not allow this to become a blood-feud.

"Come only if you can keep up." He did not expect Kohaku, Jaken, or Kanna to follow, but Kagura was already pulling herself into the wind by the time Sesshoumaru's skin began to grow inflamed with raw energy. Blue light surged up around him and he felt the shield protect his body as he launched himself through the air many time the speed he had been travelling before. It was impossible to track scents this way, hard enough to control where he was going or when to stop before over-shooting the volcano all together, but he knew his own power and wheeled down out of the sky before breaking free of his own spell.

His senses were a blur of chaos; fire and darkness painted the world that formed within the volcano, heat ripping up from the fragile ground and openly challenging the cold rain spitting down from the heavens. Flying in these conditions would strain and tire him, Sesshoumaru's feet hot after only a moment of idling on the cracked, throbbing red ground, where he landed. The heat encouraged him to begin running and leaping to avoid doing himself unintentional harm.

Around him, phoenix screams ricocheting off stone and what looked like the ruined sides of buildings- had the phoenixes honestly tried to build some sort of stronghold in this toxic place? Geysers of steam and poison fluted through the air as he began to move, one hand steadying Tenseiga's sheathe while his right was prepared to draw the compassionate blade at a moment's notice.

Until he knew precisely where Kagura and his mother were in the sound and chaos erupting around him, Sesshoumaru would not touch Bakusaiga. The corrosive sword next to him would too readily pick up on the enmity between himself and his mother, and he would not allow himself to be carried away by the sword's rage again.

"_Die!_" Sesshoumaru didn't look up to see the armoured phoenix come sailing down at him with a sharp, curved katana in hand, just abandoned his forward momentum and dodged out to his left across the fragile ground. His attacker's weapon sliced the toxic air where he'd been headed, then Tenseiga cut across the gap and rendered the other demon nothing but dust. Another battle cry brought Tenseiga up to skewer a female that came at him, his whip removing her head a moment before she realized her regenerative powers had been stolen.

After that he was moving again, following his ears and forcing his eyes to adjust to the stark contrasts between the dark shadows and the hot red light breaking through the thin ground. The steam just made the shadows rise higher and further obscure his sense of direction. Sesshoumaru abandoned the hot low-lying field and shot up a great pile of stone-work and solidified magma that formed the centre of the volcano's caldera. He needed a better vantage point.

Once he came to the sharp, glass-like top of the broken mound, there was wind coupled with the rain to clear his sense and give him a better view of what exactly he had run into. The fire birds were keeping down within the ash and steam issuing from the volcano's broken surface, the rain slowly beginning to lessen as more light came filtering through the clouds to the east. Good. The phoenixes hated water, but in a location like this it was impossible for him to track them by scent. Even as he stood there Sesshoumaru counted no less than twenty individual birds swooping and diving through the clouds. There were probably more running around, each one no doubt taking full advantage of their resistance to the fire down below.

"It's insane down there!" Kagura pulled herself out of the wind next to him and Sesshoumaru didn't stop to look at his mate, eyes scanning the rolling mass of grey and black, waiting for the sun to keep rising and the rain to go away. Tenseiga struck down a wayward bird that saw them standing there, Kagura's wind-blades finishing the job before his claws were ready. Fine, he would let her claim that kill.

"Get rid of these clouds."

"Gladly, they reek." Kagura's fan began to dance before she finished agreeing with him, Sesshoumaru's attention focused on making sure no other threats came by to hamper her as her body twisted and the winds around them obeyed. Being so high in the air already could only make this easier for her, Kagura's subtle motions and gestures drawn out as the shift in pressure took place over their heads and he felt the hot air from down below beginning to surge up- carrying that forsaken smoke-screen with it. Even if she couldn't clear the entire caldera, he caught the scent familiar blood on the wind as it screamed up past them, Tenseiga ending two more regenerating lives before Sesshoumaru saw his mother's white body take shape through the chaos.

As a great hound, Inukimi was still smaller than Sesshoumaru when fully transformed, her body slender and shorter than his, but making up for it with arguably more speed than what he easily possessed. He had inherited his father's size, strength, and endurance, while Inukimi retained a more potent toxin that laced her fangs and poured past her stretched red lips to choke the fire birds swarming around her. Her pure white fur was stained in multiple places with blood, the worst wounds behind her neck and cutting down between her shoulders. Even from a distance he could see the fatigue in her slight body and the wild pain clouding her carmine coloured eyes.

It would be disgraceful for him to attack her as she was, and at the same time it was infuriating to stand by and watch her senselessly strike down beasts she could not kill. Why would she come to fight them on their own terms? She should have drawn them away from the volcano if she had no means of executing them without running water, or control over the winds.

"I was desperate for a way to kill my father." Kagura's words were unexpected, but Sesshoumaru couldn't pull his eyes away from the futile match in front of him as his mate came and stood by his side. She knew better than to touch him, her fan held up and spread over her face so even he couldn't see her expression. "But in the end..."

He couldn't stand it. Sesshoumaru was above such filial obligations as defending his blood relatives when they had done nothing to indenture him into their service. His mother had been guided by instinct alone to nurse and protect him as a pup, Inuyasha was a disgrace whom he found too tiresome to devote himself to killing. Neither of them was worth the sweat it would take to strike them down; that was why they had lived so long! That was it!

"She's still _your_ mother." Sesshoumaru wasn't sure what did it, the possessive emphasis in Kagura's voice or the shriek that erupted from his mother's torn throat as a transformed fire-bird slashed its talons across her neck. Or maybe it was the kusarigama that went sailing end over end through the air that tore a wide rip in Inukimi's left ear, Kirara wheeling through the air and diving to retrieve the weapon before it was thrown again by the human on her back. Sesshoumaru didn't know what caused the reaction, but it was very real.

_'My mother, my family, my blood, **mine** to judge in life and death, **mine **__to protect, **mine** to destroy- **MINE!**'_

"Kagura." The witch was smiling, Sesshoumaru's eyes were uncontrollably wide, the crimson crossing his vision reacting potently to the stink of his kinswoman's blood as it sprayed through the air. "Recall your servant, or _I will kill him..._" The sound Kagura made came from deep in her throat, a low expression of amusement just before he saw her pull one of the grey feathers from her hair. The deep sound Sesshoumaru made to answer her held no such amusement, just rage.

"As you wish, my lord." And then Kagura was gone, and Sesshoumaru launched himself into the air.

His skin burned and his ears screamed as the hot white light poured out of his body again, the same sphere of energy wrapping around him as Sesshoumaru's world shot into fast-forward. He flew low past Inukimi's side and then arc'd straight up into the air, breaking out of the shell as his body morphed and a bestial roar erupted past his elongated jaw. His perspective changed as he grew in size, swiftly dwarfing the demons below him and drawing their attention as the Demon Lord powered straight down out of the cloudy dawn sky.

One of his paws connected with Inukimi's back, his mother's spine buckling behind the shoulders as she shrieked and her head snapped up. He closed his jaws around her throat and let her blood come pouring over his tongue and out the sides of his mouth. He both refused to swallow or not crush hard enough to kill her; his poisons flowing freely into her weakened body. She had the more potent toxins, he couldn't kill her with venom.

"_STAY DOWN."_ She would do it. She would obey him or she would die. The more she fought the longer he would hold her, the tighter he would squeeze. The more damage he caused then the more she would bleed, and the sooner she would revert to a smaller form or die on the ground under him. Her choice, her pride or her life?

She clawed him, and Sesshoumaru's massive paw slammed down on his mother's unprotected underbelly. Ribs snapped and more blood welled from the wounds in her throat, a horrible sound gurgling out of her lungs before she relented and he released her neck. The Demoness' white fur began to smoulder and burn as she let herself lay on the volcanic ground, but Sesshoumaru didn't care. His own hide was already scored from blades and claws as the fire-birds were like insects; they wouldn't stop biting just because his back was turned.

Now this was a blood-feud.

Sesshoumaru held his body low over his mother's prone form, a deep bellow the last warning any of the congregating birds would have as the wind unnaturally began to shift and change, clearing the battlefield again of the gasses and steam that had begun to cloud the air. He would accept no further help from Kagura, and the first handful of phoenixes that tried coming at him- at his _mother_, were met with a different strategy.

They didn't come into contact with venomous claws or massive, bloody teeth, the sorts of weapons that their careless fighting style would find completely ineffective. Instead, three of the attackers died suddenly when Tenseiga raked across their bold forms, the fourth one bursting back to life before Sesshoumaru's claws seared straight through the bird's leg. The limb came off cleanly and blood fountained into the air, refusing to turn to ash as the terrified fighter dropped out of the sky, shattering his wings on the ground and screaming as he was ignored and left to bleed out in misery.

"_Do you know who I am?_" He did not have to shout. He, Demon Lord Sesshoumaru, Dog General and Master of the Western lands did not _need_ to _shout._ He would single-handedly destroy the entire clan without one of them knowing who he was, but he would not scream and shout to be heard as he saw the wiser few of the crowd turn their pathetic tails and flee. Tenseiga cut down life after life of the rest as the young and the bold came at him. Some rushed after Un or Kohaku's flying cat- only to be led intentionally across his path and dealt with just the same.

Sesshoumaru stopped bothering to even kill the ones who had the strength to rebirth that final time. Instead he allowed the kusarigama, or a dance of draconic winds, or a burst of water from the nintoujou, and even the traitorous swords of Phoenixes whose souls were drawn into Kanna's mirror, to do the killing for him. Bakusaiga did not feel cheated, it laughed at his side and bid him chase down the cowards until they passed beyond the lip of the caldera- after that there was no sport.

They killed until there were no more birds left to attack. They fought until the sun was high over head and had burned away the autumn clouds, the heat of the volcanic ground too much for even Sesshoumaru's endurance at that point. His body had burnt all over until it had blistered, burst, and burnt again, his skin would heal but was still painful as he sheathed Tenseiga and turned to look for his mother.

She had reverted down to her human form some time during the battle, her body dragged onto the back of Kagura's feather where his mate was hovering in the air, trying to avoid burns like the ones he had endured while standing on the ground. When he tried to reason out why Inukimi was so still and quiet, but obviously not dead, Kanna lifted her mirror without comment and showed him his mother's enraged face trapped inside the glass.

"She attacked Kagura, twice." His mate denied this, but he could smell Kagura's blood on both women. His mother's venom had made her grow pale already.

He considered this the first appropriate application of Kanna's mirror.

"Lets go."

* * *

><p><strong>Woo! I was super-confused about how to start this chapter (lawl Kohaku I don't even know what that was), but I really, really love how it turned out.<strong>

**Inukimi next chapter, but my batteries still feel in need of charging. Woo... x_X**


	18. II: Wife and Mother

**Much music, but Inukimi to Someone To Protect, then HELL~!**

**Concerning updates: No, I have not finished chapter 19 yet, but it's close. Updates will still be occurring on the usual days, but not as consistently unless I get a massive burst of productivity. I currently have a detailed outline of chapters 19-26 though, so don't worry about me dropping this, I love TMTR too much to consider it. This fic is officially made of FLUFF AND VIOLENCE, how could I ever drop something like that?**

* * *

><p><em><strong>To Make Things Right<strong>_

Wife and Mother

"You're hovering."

Sesshoumaru didn't answer her, Kagura rolling her eyes as she placed her sore arm back down under the cold river water. The deep rent cut into her skin had almost completely healed over from earlier, but the flesh was still tender and inflamed. Even as she drew the limb out and looked at it in the moonlight, her forearm looked swollen and red.

"I'm shocked Inuyasha never poisoned me."

"The Half-breed does not have venom." Well that explained it then. Kagura dipped her arm back into the water one more time, letting the cold get to the point where it started to burn, then she pulled the limb out again. It was tender, and she still felt light-headed and weak even after eating some of the medicine Kohaku had offered her, but by tomorrow she'd be better.

Looking over her shoulder at where Sesshoumaru was actually standing _quite_ close behind her, Kagura sighed and decided to keep sitting for a few minutes.

They were only a short ways away from where their group had set camp for the night, which was actually several miles from the volcano where they'd fought what had to have been a hundred of those stupid phoenixes. Sesshoumaru had found trees and fresh water, Kohaku striking a small fire more for his and Jaken's benefit than anybody else. Kanna was sitting with the others along with Kirara and Un who were both probably asleep. She doubted Kohaku would deny himself rest for much longer tonight.

Kanna would probably not sleep. Neither would Sesshoumaru, and they had similar reasons: Inukimi had not been easy for Kanna to draw into her mirror. Despite her wounds Kagura's mother-in-law was more than a handful to control. If she broke free and woke up, Sesshoumaru would have to be there to stop his mother from slaughtering the rest of their companions...

"You manipulated me." Oh boy... Kagura huffed and then made herself stand up slowly, still a little queasy-feeling, but not enough that she needed to be put to bed. She turned around so she could see his face in the moonlight. The silver rays stole most of his colours, but he still shimmered, almost glowed sometimes. Kagura liked looking at him, even if he was being irritating at the moment.

"I pointed out a fact: she's your mother." And Dog Demons were intensely possessive. "That's good enough for most people." But Sesshoumaru was not most people. The emphasis for him was not on '_mother'_, but on '_mine'_. No one could kill something that was his, especially not if Sesshoumaru might want to kill it himself. "Are you mad at me?" He gave one long, slow blink of his topaz eyes- they looked almost green now, maybe a light teal in the moonlight.

"No." His answer sounded genuine, and Kagura smiled as she moved right up to him and rested her head against his chest. He'd either ignore the gesture or return it and hold her, she didn't care, her arm hurt and her head wasn't on right, he smelled nice...

"...Your venom hurt more. I thought you said hers was stronger?" His arms settled around her before Kagura asked the question, feeling warm and immediately soothed by his response. Sesshoumaru didn't hold her tight or squeeze her to his armoured chest, but his right arm rested loosely behind her waist, the left up and holding her shoulders.

"She was weak when she attacked you." Mm, Kagura wouldn't have even tried pulling the demoness up onto her feather if the volcanic crater hadn't become too hot for her own skin to stand, and too many of those fire-birds had kept trying to swoop around and attack the defeated hound. The fight must have started sometime the night before; Demon Lords didn't tire out that quickly. Sesshoumaru's burns had already healed, her mate refusing to so much as cool his hands in the river water, never-mind his feet that had almost cooked straight through. Proud mutt.

"Do you know what you're going to do about her?" Talk to her, release her, fight her, who was she to know? Kagura wasn't as invested in the situation as he was, so long as her Demon Lord survived no worse for wear, then she was content.

But he didn't know either, because if he had then Sesshoumaru would have answered her instead of letting his face touch her hair. He pressed his lips against her forehead and Kagura was ready to be wrapped up in his fur and lulled to sleep. So rare for him to be tender with her when others were within ear-shot.

"Go and rest." He said quietly, Kagura nuzzling against his throat for a moment before opening her eyes and smiling softly, ear pressed to her mate's chest. She could hear his heart beating, a perfect sound.

Tracing a circle with her fingertips over his collar bone, Kagura felt the wind pick up in a gentle evening breeze. It skated lightly over the bubbling surface of the river and pressed close to her mate's lips, fingers of air brushing down through the silver locks spread out behind him. His heartbeat was joined by a deep, silent thrum hidden behind his armour, protected by rib and muscle. He let her go after that, and Kagura didn't look up at him as she slipped away back towards camp.

But she did pause, briefly, when her hand brushed against his and Sesshoumaru slipped his fingers between hers. She squeezed first and he squeezed back, then they parted.

* * *

><p>By the next morning, enough of Inukimi's wounds had ceased to weep that Sesshoumaru permitted Kanna to release his mother's spirit.<p>

Inukimi had lain for a day on the old border between her lands and his, her mountains rising to the north of their position, his scorched plains and charred forests spreading to the south under the grey, clouded sky. Her royal kimono of indigo and gold had been rent and stained by pheonix claws, ash, and her own blood, her amber eyes shut by Kagura but opening again of their own accord whenever Kanna drifted too near the _Inu-daiyokai_'s body.

Her scent, to him, remained as he always remembered: the sweetness of honey mixed with herbs and delicacies: cinnamon, citrus, and a hint of something venomous and deadly lurking between the flowers. The meido stone, the heavy gold pendant from his father, set with a smokey jewel and suspended on a strand of massive pearls, remained undamaged around her neck and resting against her bosom. Her long hair, more white than his silver, had been ripped from one of its looping buns behind her head, laying like a white carpet under her twisted limbs. Her body was contorted on the ground, but again: whenever set in a certain position or pose, his mother's indomitable spirit would reach out and force her flesh to move in some manner.

It terrified Jaken and unsettled Kohaku that she still retained that much sense of self despite being confined to the mirror, but his mate's emphasis remained on Kanna herself. Sesshoumaru had never seen his marriage-sister fatigue in any way, but after a day of holding his mother captive the glass girl's body was beginning to crack and break along the edges. She could not repair the damage even after immersing herself in the river water, her fingers most prone to fragmentation as she kept a vice-like grip on her mirror. Kanna's steps by that afternoon were slow and taken only with great care, her body hunched over the disk held to her stomach. Her face throughout it all betrayed nothing, but his demon mother was clearly putting up a powerful fight.

"Kanna."

"Once released, the mirror will not be able to hold her again. It will break." And this, he understood, was a sacrifice Kanna would not make unless her sister's life hung in the direct balance.

Kohaku and Jaken were made to retreat a fair distance away from where Sesshoumaru, Kagura, Kanna, and Un remained, the Demon Lord tempted to send his wife away as well, but she seemed adhered to her sister's side. He permitted it only to prevent having to tire himself arguing with her.

"Release Lady Inukimi." He watched the glass girl's eyes settle on his, then look down at the paralyzed _Inu-daiyokai_, her mirror rising. It was not the same as watching Kanna release Jaken; instead of a brief flash of light, a ripple spread across the smooth surface of the glass. Kanna's hands made a sharp cracking sound as the ripple reached the edge and reverberated through the small demon. As this happened, a surge of white energy ripped out of its prison and leaped towards Inukimi's body, the small outline of a graceful hound visible to his eyes and causing Tenseiga to resonate softly at his side.

The ghostly spirit descended over his mother's form, burning like white fire for a moment before, through the glare, he saw her amber eyes blink once slowly, then again with recognition and life. With Sesshoumaru standing over her, his mother's gaze- driven by instinct and the memory of pain into rage and violence, snatched up and saw Tenseiga's naked blade held down at her.

She, surprised, was given the time to collect herself and draw her fangs back within the fold of her violet lips as they shrank, her hair settling where her yoki had begun to rise and shift about.

"_Sesshoumaru..._" His mother's rough voice rolled his name over her tongue before speaking it, the woman's body tense within the elaborate folds of her kimono, limbs flexing and moving without being obvious. Her knees bent and relaxed, her hands curling slowly, testing their limited range of motion as she assumed proper control over her body once more. Her amber eyes were on him, but Inukimi made no move to sit up or fix her dishevelled appearance in front of her son. "Why do you hold a bladeless sword against your beloved mother?"

"To show that I have saved your life once, and spared it once." Tenseiga gave a sad cry in his hand, the fang of a father held against a weakened mother. But his words were true, the blade obeyed him more than it respected Inukimi. If he had commanded it, Tenseiga would have scarred her soul as it passed from mirror to flesh.

"You believe a memento of your father could truly harm your mother? _Sesshoumaru,_ you overestimate his weak heart." Hmph, said the Demoness his father had dismissed in favour of a human, she assumed much of Tenseiga's loyalty.

But regardless of how they chose to argue it, Sesshoumaru had made his point with Tenseiga and the sword was now no better than a rod of wood, harmlessly reflecting the afternoon light down onto his mother's face. Replacing the compassionate blade in its sheath, the sword gave a sigh of relief that it had not been used senselessly. If his mother required convincing of their equalled debt, then he would need his own sword instead.

"_Hmph_, so you brought _her_..." Allowing his mother to stand, Sesshoumaru didn't move beyond allowing his right hand to return to his side. Inukimi's aura flashed briefly before him as her kimono and its numerous under-layers began to stitch and mend themselves around her body. Her fur shifted around behind her shoulders and back before settling down, pure white, to coil around both her arms.

The deep blue moon on her brow seemed to spark slightly before Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed and he felt an answering tingle brush across his forehead. Their cheek markings were different, but that was because his had come from Sesshoumaru's father, the moon connected him to the demoness in front of him; he had no way of blocking his own mother from reading his aura.

"You fixed it..." He kept his expression exactly the same, no window into his heart afforded by the brand on his face. Yes, he had mended his connection with Kagura, but that was none of his mother's concern.

"Leave." He said. This was why they were here, this was the place where Inukimi would return north to her territories and allow him to reclaim the rest of the Western Lands for himself. "You will not defeat me a third time, mother."

"Perhaps not..." She allotted, but as her hand rose to touch the meido gem around her neck, Sesshoumaru saw his mother's eyes defiantly slide past him. He did not follow his gaze, but opened the doorway into his heart to peer straight through to his mate.

The image of a meadow filled with yellow flowers blossomed in a corner of his mind, Kagura's image standing there but not focused on him. She was curious but wary of something else, not quite defensive, but protective because he knew she was still standing next to her sister. He could still smell Un not far behind him.

"Are you a fool?" He challenged, Inukimi's eyes narrowing in front of him, but not moving from where she was looking at Kagura. Sesshoumaru didn't want to move and break her line of sight, but felt compelled by instinct to stand between his mate and any possible threat. "If you intend to use that stone again, Mother, it will be your final act." Was she planning to release another hell hound from that pendant? Did she think that taking Kagura to the underworld would somehow undermine him? His mate was a demon, she would never succumb to the poisons of hell that had once killed Rin.

However, and this Tenseiga whispered harshly into his ear; like Rin, Kagura had already died once before.

"I have an _obligation_, _Sesshou-maru_," His mother's voice was louder than he expected, clearly intent on being heard by the woman behind him. At her voice Un rose into the sky and, no doubt, carried Kanna away. "After enduring your father's disgraceful actions, I have an obligation to ensure that _you_, his son, do not follow his example." The warning growl he released for her benefit went unnoticed, her amber eyes striking his topaz ones as she let her painted lids rise noticeably; an open challenge.

"Your place is not to question my decisions." Not anymore, not now that he was centuries beyond her protection and control, he-

"No, but it is my _right_ to ensure that my bloodline is never tainted by the weakness of lesser _yokai_." _Lesser?_ In his mind Kagura's form went stiff and a harsh, angry wind disturbed the meadow, none of it directed at him, the image of his mate was facing away from him, off at his mother. "Stand aside, _Sesshoumaru._"

"_What?_" Stand aside? Him? Sesshoumaru found his teeth locked and jaw rigid, refusing to curl his lips and snarl out-right at the command. Behind him he heard the soft whisper of bare feet over grass, a cold sensation wrapping itself around his left arm as Kagura approached. How dare she not stay back as he had commanded!

"If my lands will pass down to my future grandson, then so be it." His mother announced, Kagura standing in his mind with a furious expression telling him to move out of her way- "But the honour of birthing him will not go to just any female- _move._" -he refused, and Kagura slammed the connection between them shut like he'd held his nose too close to a door snapping closed.

"You stupid dog! Get out of the way!"

"_No!_" Twisting his head back so he could let his snarl loose on Kagura. His name was spoken from the other direction and Sesshoumaru turned his face into a viscus cloud of gut-wrenching sweetness.

His lungs had been drawing in air after his snap and mistakenly swallowed a full breath of the toxins, his throat and chest overwhelmed with pain as Sesshoumaru felt his eyes burn white and his nose spout blood. An outraged shriek from behind him just disoriented the Demon Lord a little bit more- pressure slamming into his body from the left and knocking him off his feet. The wind carried him until Sesshoumaru felt himself land in a heap, grass under his hands as he failed to find his feet.

Any immunity could be overcome, even his, and Inukimi's venom was a badge she proudly wore. It was a danger he had grown up with and acknowledged as the only thing in her arsenal that could successfully bring down or pain Sesshoumaru's father. His mother had been too weak after her fight and surrendering to him to pump her toxins into Kagura when she scratched her, but the Demon Lord found himself retching into the grass trying to purge his body of a full dosage. He'd been distracted- he should _never_ have breathed in!

His blood was on fire, his yoki concentrating and washing through his veins trying to control the damage. He'd breathed it in- he'd _swallowed it_. He wouldn't die from it, even if she'd meant to kill him, he simply wouldn't succumb to the venom of another demon- but he couldn't _calm down_ and work through it. There was no calm, there was no centre, his eyes were burnt and showed nothing but shades of grey as his rough, torched eyelids remained wide open and tears washed over his skin trying to remove the toxins. He would not die, in a few minutes he would be able to breathe and he would be better, completely restored, but he couldn't wait that long.

He could feel the wind moving and hear howls and shouting, but he couldn't _see_ his wife or his mother, and therefore he couldn't stop them. In his mind Sesshoumaru scratched and clawed at the door Kagura had put between them, but he couldn't see the meadow and she was completely closed off from him.

Or it was something more surreal- and he was the one standing amongst the flowers and pounding on the door trying to get in. He didn't know, and he didn't care to find the proper metaphor. Sesshoumaru couldn't get to her, it didn't even matter which one he tried. When he tried pushing his way through the mark on his forehead and caused his skin to burn and go cold trying to read his mother's aura, that avenue was closed off from him as well.

They'd shut him out, both of them.

His ability to breathe came back first, Sesshoumaru's lungs re-absorbing the blood they had shed before he drew a deep breath to finally restore calm to his flesh. His heart ceased to pound so frantically and found a steady, high-tempo rhythm once the venom was purged from his blood and ceased to agitate the muscle. Next came his eyes, the Dog General snarling loudly as he finally dragged his eyelids shut, shaking his head violently to rid himself of the wet clinging to his lashes, opening them so he could see.

The air was spritzed with plumb-coloured mists, his mother's poisons veiled so thinly through the air that Sesshoumaru's resistance allowed him to see without the blindness returning, to breathe without his lungs becoming engorged with blood again. His skin felt irritated but it was only along his face and neck- where he'd been sprayed directly with a much thicker, more potent concoction. The grass on which he was kneeling had already died, most of the plants nearby withering and turning to rotted black as the erratic wind rose, twisted, and slashed through the noxious veil.

It took him a moment more to recover, his nose slowest to heal as his charred lips reformed and his blistered tongue began to scab over and flex behind his elongated fangs. All he could taste was that consuming sweetness, dead flowers and exotic spices mingling to obscure all other scent or taste in the air.

A loud, familiar sound cut through the poison, a high hiss of clashing winds that gave way to an eruption of brilliant yellow light. Kagura's wind-scar. The clouds parted and he saw her, uninjured, holding her fan at the lowest point of a completed swing, Sesshoumaru's mother emerging out of the glare as the two stopped in the patch of clear air.

"You'll have to do better than this, I was born within Naraku's miasma." Eddies of clean wind were coiled around Kagura, keeping her from the effects of the venom still spilling past Inukimi's parted lips like smoke.

"Such a tiny wind-scar," His mother answered, Sesshoumaru finding his feet but realizing he couldn't interfere. "Do you really think passing on such an unrefined technique to _your_ son will allow him to surpass mine?"

And then they were at it again. Kagura's body twisted out of the way of his mother's puce whip- the pale pink lash sizzling through the air before becoming tangled within the arms of the wind. White sickles of air slashed and looped off the edge of the green fan in the dancer's hand and forced the other demoness to phase back through the air and launch another attack. He watched his wife's body split into the wind and catch the noxious rain his mother shot at her, flinging it back as a heavy cloud of sticky wet that was avoided by nimble feet and a sudden leap up into the air.

Kagura reformed behind Inukimi, a draconic howl peeling off her fan and attacking before his mother's fur rose up and snatched her by the ankle. His woman's back hit the ground hard enough to send up small stones and a cloud of dust, but another blade of air slashed the offensive mane, Kagura up and out of the way of the lash's return.

His wife.

His mother.

Both his, and all Sesshoumaru could do was stand there and growl. If he got in the way of one the other would claim the advantage, and if he tried to stop both then they would just attack him again. It was their fight and he simply couldn't get in the way: his mother wanted to know what sort of demon he had chosen for his mate, and his wife had been called weak and was incensed to prove herself. This had nothing to do with him, so it wasn't his place to interfere.

Except that it was _his_ wife and _his_ mother trying to kill each other. _His_.

And he couldn't even choose. Sesshoumaru told himself that the decision was simple: of the two he would defend Kagura, but that was not true. If Kagura were to win he would defend his mother, but if Inukimi found an opening to kill Kagura, he would defend his mate instead. The marks on his forehead and arm knew which woman was more important, it was all the ones across his wrists, face, ankles and hips that were alternating between hot and cold, electric and firm. The conflict inside of him couldn't be calmed by his swords either. Letting his left arm hang next to both of them just proved that neither blade could choose a side either.

It felt like he'd just smacked the flat of either blade against a stone wall; a shearing resonance was travelling up and down both weapons, Bakusaiga groaning in frustration as Tenseiga wailed softly. Both answers were right, both were wrong. Something felt smug watching Kagura's fan carve a long slash down Inukimi's arm, but bellowed in outrage when he saw his mother bleed. Pride welled watching the Lady of the North best a far younger demoness in speed, but screamed for Kagura to get out of the way of those toxic claws.

_'Why are they still fighting?'_ The question formed slowly. Why hadn't one come out on top yet? His wife was not weak, but his mother was a properly bred Demon Lord. Injuries aside Inukimi still should have been the stronger of the two, his mother should have won by now, why wasn't she winning?

What was happening to Kagura?

Something changed in the wind, something red passing through the air as Kagura's form split apart again to avoid Inukimi's claws, but this time didn't reform again right away- in fact she didn't reform at all. Sesshoumaru felt a pulse run all through his body, a deep beat that echoed only once and caused a tightness to clamp down over the mark around his left arm. A red wind began to blow, cutting through his mother's vapours, Kagura's dragon dance leaping from the forming gale. Sesshoumaru felt his clothes and hair being pulled by the increasing pressure as his mother tossed herself up into the air, away from the incoming talons and fangs, but then he saw her face momentarily change. The red caught her around one wrist and Inukimi broke free- but then it took her other ankle, and her throat, and her elbow, and her knee, and every time she moved to break one hold another two would form.

The crimson turned into a funnel, spinning like a tornado as Sesshoumaru saw his mother's white aura bleed through the red. A tingle across his brow told him she was going to transform, but just before she could-

"_Kaze no Kizu!"_ Kagura pulled herself out of the wind near the top of the funnel, her fan flashing back and forth several times, striking the column of demonic energy and unleashing a sequence of sharp bursts that streaked downward. The wind separated and each burst of energy, each pealing wind-scar, was given the space and the energy to blaze down and rip into the struggling demoness.

He heard a scream tear itself from the winds as the gold energy collided and burst out like a falling star, his marks burning all over before finally going quiet. He saw Inukimi, smouldering, drop out of the air and land in a smoking heap on the ground, her heartbeat deep and pulsing loudly enough for him to hear as a deep roar through her flesh. As the storm of yoki dispersed Sesshoumaru also saw Kagura come out of the sky, his woman landing heavily in a crouch, panting roughly as she watched the other woman.

And Sesshoumaru, finally, felt the bonds holding him in place let go, the restraints of pride and propriety melting and almost giving him a start as the physical weight was removed from him. His first step was almost tentative, not sure if the battle was completely over now that they had stopped, but neither was dead. His next step came easier, and then the next one, and the one after... He didn't run, he was Sesshoumaru, and he did not rush to either of his women as their battle drew to a close, his steps even and relaxed as he stopped prying vainly on the door into Kagura's heart. Her would learn of her wounds in only a few more moments.

His mother's seemed obvious.

"It's a tiny wind-scar." Kagura's head was down, one hand braced on the rotted ground while the one holding her fan was resting over her knee. Most of her wounds seemed superficial as Sesshoumaru approached, the poison laying on her skin rather than embedding itself in her flesh, this was good. "So imagine what it will be like when _my son_ refines it!"

"Enough." Watching his wife choke on a series of coughs after her spiteful declaration, Sesshoumaru placed himself between the two women again. Refusing to raise his voice, he could hear his mother struggling for breath and listened for Kagura's heartbeat behind him: she had fought off a weaker strain of the same toxins before, and survived his own venom before now. It was likely that whatever resistance she had built up against the two poisons would help her now. He tried hard not to let the scent of her blood, mingled with the sweet rot of Inukimi's venom, get to him.

So he looked back to his mother, watching her hands shakily begin to move, arms weakened and bloody but trying to prop herself up. The cascade of wind-scars had shorn through the layers of her kimono over one shoulder and across her legs, pale flesh bleeding onto the ground and leaving her lame for at least the next minute. "Have you any further challenges to make, Mother?"

"... _Just one_." Inukimi's hair was completely down now, her white tresses laid flat against her scalp by blood and sweat, strands tangled over one another and spilling down her back and sides. Weakly, he watched as his mother inched herself up into a kneeling position on the scarred ground. Her lips were no longer spilling that sweet poison, focused instead on just drawing air in and out of her lungs.

Behind him, Kagura stood.

"You stubborn bitch, you-" And she moved past his right shoulder before he could stop her, fan up and black hair loose around the disturbed teeth of her comb. Inukimi's amber eye flashed through the white curtain of her own hair and Sesshoumaru saw his mother lift two fingers- his entire body moved to the right and shoved Kagura down, his hand on Bakusaiga's hil-

"_Sesshoumaru!"_

"..._Fool._"

Had he moved too far? Had she been aiming for him anyways? For a moment all he felt was the heat of his mother's puce whip- that neon pink so bright it left an after-image burned across his eyes. It pierced straight through the left side of his chest, over the protection of his armour and melted the enchanted silk over his heart. It came so close he felt the heat of it _burn_ the contorting muscle, carving through rib and sinew and coming out through his back before, like a serpent, it withdrew along the same path after its strike.

The amount of venom he felt blooming through his chest from the lash was indescribable, easily more than double what he had already endured before. His right arm was instantly tapped of the strength necessary to tear Bakusaiga free of its sheathe, the blade willing but slow, incapable of unleashing green death in front of him. It came loose from the scabbard, and it crackled, and he picked up his legs and he moved forward- but his steps were clumsy and his vision already whitening. He slashed and Bakusaiga tried to guide him, but Inukimi- weakened, injured, defeated Inukimi, rose up out of the air before the wooden, one-handed strike bit into the dead ground. And then it held like that, he couldn't pull the sword free once its head lodged itself in the stony soil.

His mother said something, and Kagura shouted back at her, but his world was overwhelmed with the sickly sweet scent of dead flowers an exotic spices. Honey was drizzled over his vision as his lungs bled out and disintegrated in his chest, his heart screaming behind his ribs; it was too close to the fire, it was burning, the muscle was ripping itself apart trying to beat.

"_Sesshoumaru!"_ The doorway into his mind was flung open and the wind pulled her arms around him, his ear pressed firm over a smooth, warm bodice wrapped in green silk. He was on his knees with his hand still clinging to Bakusaiga's white hilt, the sword holding on until he felt his fingers finally slip- then the blade gave up standing strong for him and fell to rest on his shoulder. Kagura repeated his name, hands in his hair as blood and poison dribbled down into her lap.

He could hear her heartbeat.

It was faster than his, maybe.

But he could hear her heartbeat.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter totally dragged to get done between the fluffy scene and the start of the fight, but man it picked up after that. It seems like my solution throughout this story is just to throw more fighting in every time I get stuck xD Maybe it's because there's no violence in my AU?<strong>

**And who cares anyways? You read it, review it!**


	19. II: Mamorumono

**Someone to Protect, Hero, Kikyo's Heart, Room of Angels, Together Again**

**The end of last chapter and the next two? Totally never planned. I did toy around with Sesshoumaru being poisoned by Inukimi and nursed by Kagura, but it was supposed to be after she clawed his arm- something I went and put WAY WAY WAY earlier, and used as an excuse for them to stay apart, not come together. I like how this turned out, but I'm sorry for it taking so long in the day to post. Forgive me?**

**Mamorumono = Someone to Protect. Which is sort of the soundtrack for this and last chapter too, go figure.**

* * *

><p><em><strong>Taking Care<strong>_

Mamorumono

"Sesshoumaru!" That bitch, that whore, that disgusting excuse for a mother! "_Sesshoumaru!"_ He wasn't waking up! He wasn't looking at her! He wasn't standing he wasn't even holding onto his sword anymore! _"__**Sesshoumaru!**_" No! _Wake up!_

He was down on one knee next to her, silver head bowed and body limp as his grip fell from Bakusaiga and the sword toppled over to rest on his right shoulder. Kagura wasn't worried about the pauldron around his left arm, one hand on his face and the other behind his head as her torso braced his directly. She coughed on the stink of honey and herbs oozing freely from the pink mists escaping his chest like vapours, the path of the whip still burned on her vision as a harsh yellow line. Behind the screen of his hair Kagura felt tense jaws and bared fangs, Sesshoumaru's eyes held tightly shut as he refused to answer her. If she moved he would fall over, his hands hanging useless at his side as Bakusaiga's naked edge was just another minor weight for him to bear.

The killing sword didn't like her touching it, Bakusaiga hissed and rebelled against her palm but Kagura forced it back into its sheath at his side anyways. She had to get him away from here- out of the poisonous mists his mother had conjured up to fight her with. She had to get him away from the place where Jaken and Kohaku and Kanna and Un and Kirara would come looking for them once they noticed Inukimi was gone. They couldn't see him like this!

The last time Sesshoumaru had collapsed from injury in front of her, she hadn't had to carry him- she hadn't let him be that weak. He'd spent eleven years slumbering inside a tomb of ice and Kagura had made him walk from where he fell into her little shelter. She'd forced him to move _himself _so he could lay down properly and sleep. His injuries had been more wide-scale then than now, his body punctured from head to toe with weeping sores from where the ice had gripped and tortured him for over a decade.

Now Sesshoumaru was only injured in one place: that single, oozing puncture wound in his chest. It was such a small opening in his body but it was too close to his heart- if Kagura braced a hand over the blackened hole it was smaller in area than her palm. She could feel the inflammation of the skin and the stinging itch of the poison as it attacked her for coming too close. His heart was thundering at a frantic pace and sweat was beading freely over his hidden face. Kagura couldn't stay there and pretend he could get up on his own.

All she had to do was pay attention to her inner eye and see her lover laying flat on his stomach in that eternal meadow. It was horrible to consider, but right now Sesshoumaru needed _help_ because he couldn't manage everything alone. Kagura just had to look around them to recognize that if she didn't get him out of this wasteland, he would die.

So she carried him. Kagura summoned her feather and she carried them both on the winds as fast as they would go. She had to keep moving until she was far away from the sweet stink of Inukimi's poisons, too far gone in the sky to be tracked by Un or Kirara. If Kanna's mirror found them instead, so be it, but she could still pray that her sister had the sense not to lead Sesshoumaru's servants to him while he was like this.

They flew east and south, over wasteland and mountain until Kagura finally found a mountainside not scarred by phoenix fire and safe to land on. There was running water, a spring that led to a falls with a cave nearby. Her fingertips and arms were burning from the toxins she'd come in contact with, the venom eating away at her clothes where they'd protected her during the fight. Even her feet were burning, from stepping on the saturated ground.

Kagura angled the feather down into the water and let the cold liquid flood the vessel, her arms hooked under Sesshoumaru's to drag him to the shallow edge. She left him like that though, with his body submerged up to the waist, his hands and wrists in the cold ripples while she gingerly- but frantically -arranged his fur behind his head on the stony ground. He refused to stir but Kagura babbled apologies as she pulled more than a few fleecy strands out of his mane by accident. She didn't want to cause him _more_ pain!

"Who goes there!" No! Someone lived in that cave? Kagura's fan was out and she whipped the tattered green silk open beside her, watching the darkness as the setting sun didn't give her much light to work with. Demon, something tall and physically strong. A male demon with a horn protruding from its grey skull and a spine bent backwards to shove its distended belly forward came lumbering out of the cave. What looked like a piece of bone was moving about in its thick mouth as it looked at her with curious yellow eyes, then down at the Demon Lord she'd carried with her. What a sight they must have been, because the ogre's first response was to open its misshapen jaws and let out a disturbing laugh.

"A beautiful woman and her dying mate! What a promising night." Oh- Kagura knew that look! All the hate she'd felt building towards the Lady of the North came rushing back into her blood now. The anger fought down poison and fear together as the ogre stared at her bloody, dishevelled clothes and licked his fat lips with a white tongue.

"Back the hell away, I'm not in the mood!" Another roar of laughter, and then the great brute was charging straight for her- Kagura's eyes flashed red as she felt her power building around her, wind swirling around her body. No one would come near her Sesshoumaru- no one would see him weak and injured like this! No one would make her leave his side when he actually needed her! _No one!_

"_Kaze no Kizu!"_ Kagura didn't dance, just stood. Her wrist flipped over itself and her fan flashed through the air, the wind responding and carving down between her and the foolish _yokai_ that attacked her. Brilliant gold light erupted between them, laughter drowned out by the shrieking noise of the wind shearing itself apart- the ogre screaming for a brief instant before his body was obliterated by the wind-scar.

"..._!_"

Kagura dropped her fan, the abused weapon hot and smoking as it hit the stony ground. She felt a crippling pain travel up her arm, cramping her fingers as she sank back down to her knees. She had... Kagura had never done that to a lesser demon before. Ryokijin, Sesshoumaru, Inukimi, yes, but they had all been Demon Lords, creatures of that higher calibre that could generate the demonic winds necessary to perform the technique. Had she sliced through a portion of her own yoki to pull that off? It _hurt..._

"_Seshou... maru..."_ Creeping back over the pebbled ground, her mate still hadn't moved from where she'd left him. Kagura let herself crawl into the water- it felt better against her abused skin, cool and rippling, calming the poisoned flesh. She moved around so she was leaning over his body and could reach up and touch his warm cheek; no, hot- he was still sweating. She'd thought for a frightened moment that he wasn't breathing, but she lowered her ear to his face and heard short, shallow pants wheezing past his fangs. "Wake up..." He didn't answer her, didn't change his breathing as she nuzzled her mate's chin with her nose. Wake up...

Sitting up, Kagura plunged her hands into the cold water looking for the clasps around his sides and back, working his cuirass open before untying his yellow sash and placing the swords up over his left shoulder. She pulled apart the pieces of heavy wrought iron, removing the pauldron and just letting the gear rest in the cold water- they'd endured worse.

There was still heat coming through the silk over his chest, the wound no longer spewing those toxic vapours. Did that mean his body had begun to neutralize the venom? There was thick red blood coating his front- and probably his back too if she thought about it, but she didn't want to think about it.

Steeling herself briefly, Kagura pulled open the kimono and finally saw the wound his mother had punched through his chest. It was blackened and smouldering, blood still gurgling up through the seared flesh and weeping down his chest. And the _smell!_ It was Inukimi's poisons still, her toxic venom with that sweet, sweet scent of nectar and fruit. Even as she looked at it, a few more fingers of pink lifted themselves off his skin and faded through the air like a gross perfume.

_'How could she? You're her son!'_ Kagura couldn't even tell if the blow had been meant for her instead, she'd been so angry she'd stormed right past Sesshoumaru. He'd shouldered her to the ground and before she'd had time to shout at him for it she'd seen his mother's brilliant pink whip retreating back through his punctured torso. Something strange had happened to his aura when he drew Bakusaiga and tried to attack her with the sword. He'd moved quickly- but not as fast as he should have, it had been like all of his power had been sucked out of his attack. Sesshoumaru had moved like a human, with speed comparable to his brother, and when he missed with his sword he'd lacked the strength to pull the blade out of the ground, then lost the ability to hold himself up.

Cupping water in her hands, Kagura let the clear liquid trickle onto the wound, washing some of the blood away as the cold fingers became lost and wandered down into that seared hole. Sesshoumaru didn't react until she did it again, his brow twitching as she saw his fangs meet tensely- he was in enough pain to show it. Dipping her sleeve into the water next, Kagura crept back up his body and dabbed at his sweating face with the smooth silk.

His eyes opened slowly, but with visible effort. The red and blue of his transformed eyes were struggling to take precedence over the white and gold. Kagura pressed the cold cloth against his skin again, catching a dancing bead a sweat as it tried to skate down his forehead. He wasn't looking at her, his head tilted to his left where it had fallen, half his face hidden in the fleece she'd piled behind him. There was a haze over his pupils, the colours warring for precedence and obscuring his actual vision. She gathered his hair up in her hand and moved it away from his neck, fanning his fevered skin gently with a breath of wind.

She saw the tension move through the muscles under his skin, his right shoulder flexing as his fingers moved in the cold water. Kagura looked down when she felt the limb move and then set her hand on his arm, leaning on him just enough so he would be still.

"_Focus..._" She whispered, keeping her voice low and soft as she breathed the word over his ear. The point twitched slightly and she nuzzled his throat again, listening to laboured, hidden pants. "You'll be alright, Sesshoumaru, no one will see you here." Except her, and except for that demon she had already slaughtered.

Kagura wet her sleeves again and wiped his face, his eyes still open and the colours still a messy blur of red, gold, blue and white. She saw his tongue flickering behind his parted fangs, rubbing the roof of his mouth and understood what he wanted, cupping the cold spring water in her hands and letting it trickle into his mouth. Even the protected deserved dignity, but even when he tried to move his arm again they both knew he couldn't manage it. Sesshoumaru barely found the strength to swallow between the pain and his need for air.

Handfuls of water washed and cleaned the wound on his chest, pink and red mixing across his skin that she wiped away into the spring. Her hands felt swollen from repeated contact with the venom, her palms red and fingernails bleeding slowly, but the poison was only on the outside of her skin, not burning through her chest. Contact would just help her build a resistance, helping him was more important than relieving herself of a persistent sting.

"_Ma_..." Hm? He breathed the sound past his lips, his mouth stained with blood as the word failed to come together. Kagura was tempted to hush him, but knew better. She watched him closely and brushed her fingertips over the marks on his cheeks, waiting. "_Mamoru... mono..._" He seemed satisfied with pushing the word out with his tongue, Kagura making sure he had nothing else to say before she brushed her sleeve over his lips, wiping away the toxic red that had spilled out with them.

"Something to protect..." She said quietly, another handful of water pouring into his mouth- but this time so he could spit out the blood, his fur wet and stained with the spillage. "Like the Western Lands, Sesshoumaru, you have to protect what's always been yours."

Because she knew he could feel it Kagura stroked the fleece softly, her fingers apologizing for the strands she'd pulled out in her frenzy to settle him at the water's edge. When she felt down far enough to the flesh it worried her to feel so much heat coming through him. The fever refused to go away, Kagura's touch gentle but still coming away with a few tufts of dead, grey fur clinging to her wet fingers. It was like the silken undercoat on a real dog, but Kagura quickly washed the downy strands off into the spring.

She'd considered taking him into the cave, it was one of the reasons why she'd landed here, but the water was better for him. If he were human it would have made him sick to float in the shallows as the night carried on, clouds rolling in with cold wind behind them. Kagura ignored the storm, told it to leave her alone and was surprised to feel the eddies obey. No, she would stay here with him, she _chose_ to stay here with Sesshoumaru...

It was just taking him a long time to get better...

* * *

><p>When Sesshoumaru had snarled at her and then turned to take a face-full of his mother's toxins, Kagura had been enraged with both of them. She'd shoved her mate aside with the wind so she could get at his mother, let him struggle on the ground with the venom he'd inhaled and allowed into his eyes. The fact that a Demon Lord renowned for his <em>immunity<em> to poisons had suffered so under Inukimi's influences had instantly told Kagura all she needed to know about the venom: stay away.

She'd likened it to Naraku's miasmas and that hadn't been too far from the truth. There had been times when, even as one of the spider's detachments, Kagura had lost her immunity to the noxious clouds hovering around his castle. Dragging the air around her into a protective shield had been a skill born from necessity, and dancing away from Inukimi's sprays and lashes had been the wind dancing at its best. If she'd been struck the same way as Sesshoumaru, would she have even stood a chance at survival? It was unpleasant to think about.

"_...One._"

The sound of his voice surprised her, Kagura sitting over his right shoulder now, out of the water and stroking his silver head softly. She'd seen his throat keep twisting for a few minutes, watched his lips move soundlessly but reject the water she offered him. Kagura's hand stilled on his hair, removing her hand slowly with another caress before she stood up and moved around to his left side. She was closer to the water's edge now and able to see his face, patting down his fur until she saw his exhausted gold eyes looking up at her.

"Sesshoumaru?"

"...Some-_one_." She didn't understand the emphasis, not right away. Her fingertips traced down the lines of his face from brow to chin, his eyes sliding shut as she brushed the red marks on his cheek, tracing them with the pad of her thumb. Was he breathing any better? A little stronger maybe? His voice sounded distant, lost behind the short, quick pants still whistling past his fangs. But he spoke to her, so Kagura was quiet. "..._Mamorumono... Someone_..." Not thing, she'd said some_thing_ to protect, he'd meant some_one_.

Someone to protect. He opened one eye again and looked at her, the red and teal both gone now and making him look so exhausted. Kagura touched his marks again and let her fingers trace the point of his ear, brushing back through his hair. His attention didn't waver from her, Kagura moving until she felt the cold water soak into her gown again around the knees, kneeling next to his left arm where it was floating in the spring.

His kimono was still open and showed that ugly sore in his chest, the wound refusing to shut as it still, even hours later, leaked that fuchsia gas in slow, painful gasps. Kagura broke eye contact with him so she could touch the angry marks running down his chest, the inflammation from the poison raised and hot under her hand as she spilled water over the abused flesh again. She settled her weight on her hip next to his, wetting her sleeve down and then settling the cool weight over his skin, her fingertips resting on the centre of his chest.

"Be careful, my lord." She said softly, drawing his left hand up into her lap and twisting her fingers between his. He watched her without making a sound, his breathing no different for the small weight on his chest, but Kagura knew better than to lean on him right now. "It almost sounds as though you love me." She smiled and squeezed his fingers gently, watching him release a breath through his nose before he twisted his hand and grasped hers loosely. She wished his grip was stronger, knew it should have been, but just watched his eyes slip shut again, his body drained by the need to sleep.

_'Sleep, my love.'_ Something to help him regain his strength, help fight off the rest of the poison. _'You have all night, just rest, I'll still be here.' _Someone to protect... Maybe for the rest of tonight, that would be what he would be to her.

Someone for her to protect...

* * *

><p>"Jaken. What is resentment?" Kanna was looking into her mirror. She had not moved much or said anything after the release of Inukimi, but she spoke now, breaking the hours of self-imposed silence.<p>

The three of them had watched the fight between the _Inu-Daiyokai_ and Kanna's sister from afar, then been left behind once Kagura vanished into the wind with the Demon Lord. Inukimi had escaped. The Demon Mother had vanished to the north and fled beyond all sense and ability to track. Kohaku did not know if she would remain gone for very long, but Kanna did not care. Kagura had left them behind.

The imp had whined and bawled that they should go after Kagura and the Demon Lord. Kohaku had argued that they should not, and because Kanna could not seal the imp the human simply ignored him and took Un's reigns. Un had obeyed the human and carried Kanna, the imp, Kirara, and Kohaku to find water so Kanna could heal.

Her mirror had cracked and her fingers were broken, Inukimi had been powerful. The Demon Mother had tried to break the mirror, and Kanna repaired it in the cold water of the river, Kohaku helping gather her broken pieces so her hands came back together. The imp had stopped bawling, and had watched her repairs happen without comment.

They went back to the same camp as the night before, because it would be easy for the Demon Lord to find when he returned with Kagura. Kohaku slew two different demons who wandered too close to them, because the imp was not a fighter and Kanna did not want to use her mirror.

Hours had passed and the sun had set, Kohaku striking a fire in the same place as last night and the three of them sat under the stars. The imp was patient, unnaturally so, and Kohaku simply stroked the back of his fire-cat after eating some of his food. They two of them discussed Inukimi, and agreed that she would probably not come back to the Western Lands. She had left in defeat, that was the answer they decided on.

After more time had passed Kohaku both fell asleep and then awoke again once his fire died, commenting on how close to dawn it was getting as he coaxed the flames back to life. The moon had begun to sink down in toe western sky, dawn threatening the east as a soft pink haze built over the horizon. Kanna had looked into her mirror and seen the light behind her through the trees.

She tilted the silver disk and looked for Kagura.

She saw her.

She spoke.

"Jaken." She did not want to repeat herself, but though her voice had interrupted the quiet conversation between the slayer and the imp, the retainer had not answered her. "What is resentment?"

"Oh my! Yes! Well!" The imp did not know how to speak without babbling. "In the strictest sense, Lady Kanna, resentment is a sense of disdain or wrongfulness brought on by an aspect of something. Oh yes, for example, if I said that I resented your mirror for constantly sucking me in, or you for carrying that mirror then that would all count as-"

Kanna changed her hold on the mirror, allowing its silver face to flash. It disturbed the image Kanna had been gazing at, but that was alright. The imp toppled over like a thing made of wood and the silence was restored around them.

"Sleep well, Master Jaken." Kohaku spoke the words lightly, a chuckle following the comment as Kirara gave a gentle coo in his lap. Kanna did not pull her mirror back so she could gaze into it again, but remained kneeling on the soft ground, watching nothing as the fire light played with the fading shadows. "Are you alright, Lady Kanna?"

"Yes."

"Do you think you understand resentment?" Understand. Yes. Kanna did not have emotions, Kanna did not _feel_ things as others did. There was nothing inside of her, no burning passions or cold distance, she was not a being of emotion, she was a vessel of emptiness, the absence that made up her inner self was her centre and her form. Kanna did not possess emotions, but she could understand them.

She could understand the stirring that had turned into a rumble, that was now a jarring, violent impulse running through the frame of her body, the resonance pulsing through her glass skin and echoing in vain into the void of her heart. Kanna understood resentment. She took the imp's words and she applied them, and now she understood resentment.

Because Kanna resented the Demon Lord.

And she did so because he was dead.

* * *

><p><strong>This is officially my second-longest story on the site now. Sunny is most pleased.<strong>

**Also, I apologize now because this will probably happen at some point: since I don't have the luxury of repeatedly re-reading stacks of completed segments, I will probably drop an AN later that says "GO BACK AND RE-READ CHAPTER X", due to content changes and altered details. I simply cannot help this, in a story as long as this and updated as I go it's just a part of the package.**

**Review!**


	20. II: Grey Widow

**Someone to Protect, He Lives In You, D9 Main Theme**

* * *

><p><em><strong>To Make Things Right<strong>_

Grey Widow

Kagura woke up cold. The almost-winter sunlight offered no warmth as it pierced her eyes, forcing her to take several moments to adjust. Behind her was the roar of water crashing down into the stream, her body sore where she'd fallen into an exhausted sleep. She was soaking wet from the spray and cold from the isle wind that kept blowing over them, her legs tangled with Sesshoumaru's where she'd lain on him all night.

There was a pain in her chest, a terrible, cold sensation gripping her ribs and threatening to pull them out where the bones all fused together. It felt almost like she was a fish that hadn't been gutted properly. Something was wrong, the cold was persistent and painful, her body stiff and uncomfortable, so it occurred to her groggy mind that Sesshoumaru couldn't have been faring much better.

"Are you better yet?" She murmured, her mouth dry and tongue sticking to the roof of her mouth. Cold and sore, Kagura climbed off her mate's chest and cupped her hands in the water surrounding them. She drank what she could and licked the rest off her hand when she failed to get enough. "Sesshoumaru?" She looked down at his chest, looking for the inflammation from last night and saw a scar of it running down the left side of his chest, a discolouration of his pale, pale skin. Was he always that white? It was probably just the sun doing that to him.

Kagura laid her head back down on his chest, a little higher than before, almost at his neck. She closed her eyes and... aside from the waterfall, it was silent... Cold, and-

"Sesshoumaru?" -and silent? "Sesshoumaru?" Kagura froze for a moment and moved her cheek against his skin, maybe she was just too far to the right to hear it. But no, she came close enough to the open wound in his chest and, no, Kagura still couldn't hear it. Why couldn't she hear it? It was supposed to be right there, inside his chest. Where was it? "Sesshou-" His heart. Where his heart? Why couldn't Kagura hear his-

"_No!_" Her head came up and Kagura stared at his face. He was still exactly the same as last night except he wasn't- his face was still tilted to the side, resting on his fur where it was wrapped up under his head and holding his neck. But it wasn't the same at all- his lips were grey, his marks were black- not red- _black_. His crescent moon was a full, black circle sitting in the middle of his forehead, not a sliver of blue, even his eye-markings, those light red colours along his eyelids- even _those_ were greyed out and faded.

No.

No.

No, Sesshoumaru was not dead.

No. Sesshoumaru could not be dead.

NO.

Kagura didn't mean to- she meant to say his name instead, to shout at him and startle him into waking up. She meant to make him move so the sun would strike his marks and put the colour back in them. She didn't mean to scream. She didn't mean to make that senseless, wordless noise that erupted out of her chest. It scared birds that had been perched nearby, it hit the rocks behind them and was swallowed by the roaring waterfall.

But she screamed, and when he didn't wake up at the sound Kagura did it again.

She wanted him to wake up. She wanted the sun to hit his eyes and turn them all the colours she loved- all the blues and greens and golds. And his hair would shimmer like it had that time on the beach- both times, every time. It would be like when he'd woken up in her Thracian home and the orange light had turned his silver hair to spun gold, filling his wide red eyes with drops of dew and stardust. It would be like that time, after they had crossed that first sea together, when he had been tired and stood there with his fur blown back in the wind like a shower of sparks endlessly flaming off his shoulder. It would be like that time in the cave, in that night, in that storm, over those mountains, when he had demolished the entrance of their shelter to keep the wind from harassing her. It would be like it was in the darkness where she could only see the light shining off the stones and reflecting over his skin as he made love to her until the blizzard passed.

It would be like when he'd marked her and stood in the wind, let it touch and move over him. It would be like when he'd captured her out of a sky that was so blue it was lost against the calm sea beneath them as they flew home, when his eyes had been almost green and his hair streaked with blue.

But it wasn't like that, it wasn't like any of that: he wasn't waking up. Kagura didn't hear her scream die and turn into a moan, just felt the sound break as sobs cut into her like knives and claws. She saw her hands reach out and grab his face, his skin cold the way it wasn't supposed to be as she shook him, then slapped him. And then she hit him again, and then again, his head snapping both ways but not responding. And then she cut his arm- his right arm, and he didn't bleed, the muscle opening with no red to weep.

"_You can't die! You can't die!"_ She scrambled off of him, fighting and kicking and splashing in the water. Kagura didn't even know her own voice, it sounded like some horrible creature was screaming through her. "_No! You can't die!"_

Crawling back to him Kagura yanked down his sleeve, looking for her mark on him. Marks were forever, marks would always be there because he was her mate and he couldn't die. And her mark was still there but Kagura saw it and closed her eyes, her sight overwhelmed with tears so she could only see enough to know her red was black and grey around his arm. His scar was still tangible, but hidden under the spoiled dye where the silver had faded to nothing and the gold seal in his muscle had turned black, like coal. Kagura just folded her body over itself and wailed again, choking on sobs as she squeezed her lungs against her knees and pushed her forehead down against his arm. No, he wasn't allowed to die, he wasn't allowed-

"_You're the Lord of the Western Lands! Son of the Inu no Taishou!"_ She screamed, head still down as she searched her heart like someone lost, finding the doorway wedged shut and forcing every piece of herself to get it open. She had to get it open. _"You slew the Panther King! Sesshoumaru who broke the armour of Moryomaru! Sesshoumaru who destroyed the Body of Naraku!_" The door opened and Kagura felt her dream-self run into the field of flowers, their yellow blossoms all wilted and blackened under her feet, snow drifting from a clouded, cold sky. Why wasn't he there? Sesshoumaru was supposed to always, _always_ be there! _"Master of Tenseiga! Sesshoumaru who slew the Lord of the Underworld, Lord Sesshoumaru who destroyed the Evil of the Shikon Jewel- **Magatsuhi!**_"

She lifted her face and he still was just the same, Kagura screaming again in rage this time as she splashed an arm-full of water at him. He didn't move, the cold droplets just beaded against his pale, dead skin and ran off like he was made of stone. Kagura tore out her comb and she threw that too, let the topaz droplets smack him on the forehead. Furious now, she screamed at him:

"_You slew the god of the East Wind! You defied Fujin and crossed blades against Boreas of Olympus! You spurned the Goddess Artemis- you killed the immortal Phoenix Lord Ryokijin! **You saved me, Sesshoumaru, you can't die!**_" This was the Demon Lord who had grown his own left arm back, the one who- wait, his arm-

"_You!_" Kagura's eyes found Bakusaiga's white hilt and sheath, still resting by its master's head as the wind demon reached for it and tore the blade out of its casing. It didn't do anything as she stood up, didn't growl or hiss or hum in her hand- "_Do something!_" Kagura threw the sheathe into the water and let it sink to the bottom, she held the katana in both hands like she'd seen so many men do, watching the sun glitter down its patterned edge. "_You're part of him! DO SOMETHING!"_

A flicker.

An ounce.

A tremble.

"_NO! That's not enough!"_ She watched it happen, from the hilt travelling up and down; all along the blade and then down towards the pommel. Chips and notches, scratches and patches of rust, Bakusaiga aged before her very eyes until the proud arm of her mate was reduced to a useless, dull edge. Under her palm she felt the bindings unravel and fray, the white material turning yellow and brown before Kagura screamed again and threw down the horrible, weak, disloyal blade. It bounced across the pebbled ground and Kagura for a moment, a spiteful, hateful, desperate moment, almost picked it back up just so she could throw it into the water after its sheath.

"_No_...!" Sinking back down to her knees, Kagura's tears refused to stop, her throat sore and tight and aching as she let a strangled cry pound and rip up into the air. Her hair was in tangles around her face, and Kagura found herself biting the white sleeve of her gown. _Wedding_ gown, _bridal_ gown. Not a maiden, a ward or a concubine, not just a wife but still a bride- how was she supposed to be a bride if she was supposed to be a widow? "_NO!"_

The silk tore. It had never done that before, never given under a force not powered by a Demon Lord or some being greater than herself. But the white silk tore with a resounding rip and Kagura watched the shred in her hand turn molted and grey, silk fibres bunching and spoiling before her blurry gaze. She tried again, taking a handful of white this time, and sure enough the seams gave and the fibres snapped- she threw the dead, grey fabric into the water, ripping at the green bodice without taking it off- snapping threads and tearing hems. Not a bride, not a wife, not a bride, not a wife...

"_Come back, come back..._" She just sat like that after her clothes were torn, staring at his grey body with its black marks, dead and cold and silent, not moving. Then she moved, crept forward slowly and took his chin in one hand, her other resting on his forehead and covering the black circle branded onto his skin. "_Mamorumono."_ The last thing he'd said to her._ "Come back to me..._"

She kissed him. Kissed cold dead lips that didn't kiss back. But Sesshoumaru didn't always kiss back, and he never kissed first, but sometimes he didn't kiss back either.

Come back... Mamorumono... Come back...

_Come back..._

* * *

><p>Kagura didn't fall asleep like that, next to him. He wasn't breathing so even as she brushed her fingertips over his marks and past his lips, she couldn't tell herself that he was just cold from the water. And she couldn't drag him from the falls either, every time she tried to move her nerves failed her, Kagura just sank back onto the cold ground with her arms coiled around her mate's head, his face lost in the green of her bosom.<p>

Not breathing. Not moving.

Was this what it would have been like if Kagura could have touched him while she slept in ice? Would there have been no pulse, not sense of life in his flesh? Was this just him sleeping, sealed away, against something he couldn't fight off all at once? Was it like that? Did she just have to wait and then he'd come back again?

No. It wasn't like that.

The thought just made her hold on tighter, the sun overhead now and feeling hot on her loose hair. Not warm, hot. Kagura's red lips brushed over his grey hair, her tears spent for now, but the hours had tricked her a few times already. More would come. She'd wait and they'd come.

She moved again and Kagura felt something through his fur. His mane had gone grey and limp, the fibres rough and tangled like the fleece was really wool that had grown wet sitting in the damp spray of the falls. It was grey like when he'd climbed out of that cave, covered still in shards of that ice. It wasn't warm or soft like it was supposed to be, it didn't smell like him anymore. He didn't smell like himself anymore.

But she felt something, and Kagura needed several minutes to pry her fingertips away from Sesshoumaru's face, her touch brushing over the skin where they had been together. She pretended, foolishly, for a few moments that his skin was warm because he was warm, not because she'd been touching him. It didn't console her, and Kagura pushed her fingers down through that limp, sodden fleece looking for whatever it was that...

"Ten... seiga...?" Black sheathe and blue binding set with a diamond pattern, a gold medallion set as the guard and capping the pommel with red threads wrapped tightly around the edge of the blue wraps. A pretty sword. A temperamental blade, the brother of Tetseiga. The Heavenly Fang, Tenseiga.

The sword of life?

Why the hell hadn't she looked for Tenseiga first? Kagura almost couldn't move, her body sore and stiff and cold as she pulled her other arm free from around Sesshoumaru's stiff neck, her spine bending slowly as she sat up and wrapped her fingers around the polished black wood. The sheathe was carved from a sacred tree, enchanted to put up a barrier in order to defend the wielder's life: Sesshoumaru's life. The sword from his father meant to protect him from Tetseiga.

"You should have said something-" It should have called out to her, should have pulsed, should have done something. Kagura knew it could speak, she'd heard it moan and tremble during those lost years, the time she'd held onto its snapped and broken end before returning it to the ice to rest with its frozen half.

Sitting up on her knees now with the sword in hand, Kagura grasped the sheathe firmly and put as steady a hand as she could over the blue bindings. She pulled and-

"_...! _Tenseiga?" It- wouldn't- come! Was it stuck? Had he jammed it in there wrong the last time he-? "Come out!" She stopped pulling and stood up, made herself stand in the cold shallows of the water and shake the blade, hoping it would come loose- it didn't. She slid the sheathe into her sash and imitated the stance she'd seen so many men use- human and demon alike. Hold the sheathe with one hand and draw smoothly with the- "Damn you!"

It didn't work. She pulled the scabbard out and knelt down, holding the end between her knees and putting both hands on the hilt, pulling. Work! Work! Come out!

"_Your son is dead!_" Tenseiga! Fang of his father! "His mother killed him! Do your job! _Argh!_" She let go and the sword toppled over into the shallow water, Kagura fishing it out with a loud hiss behind her teeth, eyes wide as she felt them prickling with fresh tears. Was it because she was a woman?

She forced the sword's hilt into her beloved's cold hand, holding his fingers over the diamonds and pulling on the sheathe with her other hand. It wouldn't budge. Bakusaiga had always reacted against her, but at least when she pulled it out, even when she shouted and disrespected it, the blade had let her draw its edge!

"You're a horrible father! You were _made_ for Inukimi!" She cursed, fresh pain lancing up her throat as she sobbed and let a tear fall, staring at Tenseiga as she stood up again with the healing blade in her hands. "Traitorous sword! What, are you to proud for a wife to wield? You only want his son? You only want _your_ son?" It was a memento, it was something passed down an ancestral line, beginning with Sesshoumaru's father. "_He has no son!_"

That's what her fight with Inukimi had been over: was Kagura _worthy_ of bearing the next Dog General? She wasn't an _inu-daiyokai,_ she wasn't a dog at all, so could she handle it? Was she strong enough? Did it even matter _how_ strong Kagura was if the father wasn't even alive anymore?

"_Look at him!_" Holding Tenseiga by the sheathed end, Kagura swung the sword, hoping against hope that its unnatural hold would yield if she just whipped it around the wrong way- no luck. So she held it out over the fallen General instead. "That's your blood-line! There's no more after him! It's only Inuyasha and his almost-human children! That's it! Two swords for two sons and _you_ let them both end up with one!" No answer- this stupid, stubborn blade! "_Sesshoumaru has no son! He has no heir! He has no daughters or sisters or anyone else who can inherit you! If he's dead, **you're dead**, Tenseiga!_"

Nothing. Kagura contemplated beating the stubborn sword against a nearby rock to vent her frustrations, but her eyes fell on something else, something more sinister instead. She hated the weak, mournful sound that crept up her throat as she hobbled over to Bakusaiga where the blade was glinting on the ground, but the aged sword let her lift it up again by the hilt. Kagura looked at Tenseiga in her other hand then down at the beaten edge of the other blade, it felt dead in her hand, lifeless, like its spirit had followed its master after defacing itself.

It seemed fitting.

_'I love Kanna.'_ She carried the two swords back to where Sesshoumaru was still laying on the ground, eyes closed so she didn't have to look at him right away. _'But he...'_ Without her eyes all Kagura could see was that open doorway looking out at nothing, that barren meadow with no life and no one looking back at her. In fact, the longer she looked at it, the more her sense of it began to fade, the more the absence grew larger and the space in her heart began to collapse in on itself. Gone, gone, gone...

She was crying again, and opening her eyes just forced another hoarse wail to come crawling out of her throat. The wind came down and howled behind her, pulling her hair and grasping at her tears, but with a loud yell and a twist of her body Kagura made it stop, forced the air to go still and her element to leave her alone. She didn't want to fly, she didn't want to dance, her heart couldn't tolerate solitude and the emptiness just opened a little wider inside of her.

Kanna was a friend, a sister. Kohaku was a presence, a familiar. Sesshoumaru was a...

_Friend, lover, companion, protector, mate, guardian, husband._

He was...

_Beloved, cherished, watched, wanted, pursued, coveted, needed, comforted, lost, dead, gone, no..._

_No..._

"I am the wind." Kagura knelt slowly, the breeze picking up again carefully and rustling the trees edging the clearing, blowing through the grasses and carrying the scent of coming rain; another storm. She looked down on white skin and black markings, grey hair framed by ashen fur that was touched and caressed by the mourning wind. "Tenseiga, I am the free wind."

The sword was unresponsive in her lap, fine. Bakusaiga had nothing to say either, it didn't even begrudge her when Kagura tilted the blade up so she could see part of her reflection on the abused steel.

"If you won't help him, then I will wait." She would be patient, Kagura wasn't a patient being but she would learn to be. "I'll search."

As the wind. She would search and wait and follow until he came back to her. She would shed this body and she would return to the wind and search for him. Kagura of the wind would merge back into her element, and she would wait for him like that until he walked again. She would wait. She would find him. And in the meantime, this body would be of no use to her.

Adjusting her hold on the tattered hilt in her hand, Kagura brought Bakusaiga's rough edge around to rest against her neck. She would be the wind. The free wind unhindered by hunger or fatigue. Her heart would come with her into the storms and eddies that embraced the world, but the body was useless and would remain behind. The breeze pulled at her, whispered into her ear that it would take a long time, it would take years and years of waiting and wandering and searching.

She asked if the winds would still blow after all the years had passed and the decades melded into centuries.

The wind answered yes, forever.

Satisfied, Kagura raked Bakusaiga's edge across her throat.

Horrified, the killing sword refused to slay her.

* * *

><p>Kagura didn't try to kill herself again with Bakusaiga after she failed the first time. She stared at the notched blade and held its tattered handle in her palm, but didn't slam it into the ground in outrage or start trying to stab herself with the dirty tip. It had refused to harm her, and yelling wouldn't make the sword change its mind.<p>

She did try to cut herself though, wrapping her fingers around the blade and pulling the hilt with her other hand- but it refused to comply. The sword jumped whenever she tried to run its edge against her skin, the steel resonating with an unnamed emotion each time it thwarted her. The hilt would twist out of her grasp and hit the ground or her leg, the blade pulling away and turning so only the flat or the back ever rubbed against her.

Even the smallest cut, trying to drag the tip of her finger along the sharp notches and scratched edge, made the entire blade pulse and fall away. Finally, she felt a heavy weight overcome Bakusaiga that wrenched the sword free from her grasp completely; its entire cutting edge angled down into the pebbled ground where it bit in and almost buried itself to the hilt in dirt and sand. When she tried picking it up it just pushed itself deeper, and finally Kagura had to let the sword go before it was physically swallowed by the ground.

_'Sesshoumaru...'_ He'd have hated her for trying to use his sword like that. He'd have been so angry he would have snatched Bakusaiga from her grasp and walked off with it, forbidden her from touching it again and perhaps refused to speak with her until he calmed down. He would be angry because she had tried to cause herself harm, he would be insulted that she'd dared try to wield a sword meant only for him.

"..._Stupid dog_..." He couldn't give her commands and expect her to follow them just because they were his. He couldn't impress his will upon her when he wasn't even alive to speak the words. "Arrogant mutt..."

More tears, this just wasn't going to stop. Kagura bent her head again, but this time she felt herself smiling in a lost way. Her face felt broken, and the absence sucking away at her inside just continued to grow.

"You didn't even... leave me something." Forbidden to conceive a child, somewhere along the way Sesshoumaru had forgotten about or simply ceased to acknowledge that condition on her. Fitness to carry a Demon Lord, that was what she'd fought his mother over. She hadn't been looking for a blessing or acknowledgement, just the undeniable proof that yes, Kagura was good enough to stand by his side, that he didn't always have to protect her, that she could protect-

_'I failed...'_

It was hard to stand up, but Kagura managed it after a few more quiet minutes by the water's edge. She let Tenseiga tumble out of her lap and onto the ground; it obviously wanted nothing to do with her. Making her uneasy way back to the fallen Dog General, Kagura quietly knelt down again next to him, looking down without wailing or screaming again. The wind kept blowing, but it was quiet around her, respectful.

She re-dressed him, fixed his kosode before properly folding the wet silk over his shoulders and chest. She found her comb in the shallow water and tucked that under the silk, over that silent hole in his body and caught between the two layers of fabric. She dragged him out of the water until he was laying flat on the pebbled ground, too heavy for her to take all the way to the edge of the trees. His body was stiff and his armour ungainly, but she worked the pieces under his still back and clasped them back on around his torso, re-attaching the pauldron after making sure the rest of him was in order.

She found her fan where she'd dropped it and carefully folded the mended weapon between her palms, sliding it back into her sash where it belonged. She pulled her hair behind her head with her hands, combing out what tangled she could with her fingers before resolving to just let it hang down her back: she had nothing to keep it up with.

She couldn't find Bakusaiga's sheath in the churning water, but the blade refused to come out of the ground anyways. She grasped the hilt and pulled on it, hearing and feeling several rapid pulses resonate through the weapon before she finally gave up. Weary, and with the wind still calling her to come away with it, Kagura bent and picked Tenseiga up by the hilt, not even looking at the sword until she heard a dull thunk behind her, felt the barest sense of acknowledgement possible from the blue wraps under her hand.

"You proud, arrogant, son of a bitch..." The way the sunlight glittered off Tenseiga's exposed edge told her to stop wasting time with insults. She couldn't believe it. With its master presentable and his wife taking appropriate care, the Heavenly Toothache directed Kagura's attention to the darkening world around her, its influence reaching out and disturbing the veil between worlds so she could see what to do.

Kagura didn't know how to describe what she felt when she saw the bald, fang-toothed creatures sniffing around the dead Demon Lord. Relief over the fact that she could _see _them at all, that Tenseiga acknowledged her. Disgust at the sight of the undead reapers. Rage over what she saw them doing. The little demons reeked of death with their discoloured skin and mutated joints, their very presence darkening the world around them. But as she stood there Kagura watched one tug on her dead lover's hair, another one taking up handfuls of his fur and violating the fleece with its claws. Tenseiga beat once in her hand, and she almost told it to shut up.

The Lady of the West didn't even have to swing the sword, her winds just came down along Tenseiga's edge with a howling fury as she bent her wrist and bid the air to cut through the veil between worlds. The sword felt intrigued by her methods, but once the last imp was slaughtered Kagura felt a terrible pain blossom between her eyes. Her wrists flared with pain and Tenseiga fell from her grasp onto the ground, her vision whitening rapidly without explanation or cause for the pain.

The Wind Witch collapsed next to her lover, and prayed that when she woke up he'd still be there...

* * *

><p><strong>Oh man, updating tomorrow will be stretching my luck. I don't have too much more work to get done on it, but I have a busy Saturday helping my mom and I've got an important paper to finish this weekend for Monday.<strong>

**So yeah, Sunday update will _probably_ happen, but I don't know if I'll get it up for a midnight update. Check your e-mail but don't get mad if the update takes a while!**

**Read and review, next chapter is in the works!**


	21. II: Lady of the West

**Kikyo's Heart, Room of Angels, He Lives in You, Brothers in Arms**

**Wow, that was kinda nuts. Sorry for taking so long to get this chapter posted! My Tuesday and Wednesday are a little wild at the moment, but I'm hoping to get 22 online with a lot less fuss than 21 needed.**

**Thanks for your patience!**

* * *

><p><em><strong>To Make Things Right<strong>_

The Lady of the West

Sesshoumaru woke up waterlogged and cold. His feet and hands felt swollen from the moisture, the weight of his armour crushing his chest and a feeling of deep sleep clinging to his eyes as they struggled to open. It was awakening from the deepest of slumbers, a sea of white mists and a sense of imminent loss and frustration seeping out of his bones as he felt the sunlight pouring down onto his face and fur.

Sesshoumaru felt like stone. But somehow, unbidden, he was reminded of how much better that felt than being made of ice. Waking up to cold, autumn sunlight, and the sound of roaring water was not as horrible an experience as awakening ones-self into a world of intense pain and anguish, or with flesh invaded by spines of ice and divine malice. So it was easier this time, even though Sesshoumaru, deep down, understood that this time he had come back from death, not dreams.

It was an eerie, underhanded feeling. It quieted his pride, and he could find no power with which to chastise himself. Whatever shame he felt was dampened, not easily located in the drowsy sea of sensations feathering to him through the constantly moving air. It took him several moments to recognize the scent close by of something- some_one_ he desired to have closer. She wasn't touching him, but as he stirred he heard nothing over the roaring water to tell him she noticed him, that she was drawing near.

_'...This is not the first time she has saved me from death..._' But it would, most likely, be the last. Being drawn from the precise moment of pain and defeat into a realm of dreams had calmed his spirit the first time it happened, opening a door for him through which he had passed into a deep, numbing sleep. But that had not happened this time. When he had heard the command to sleep he had obeyed again and given in to pain and a wish for comfort- only to feel himself slide helplessly into an abysmal white that his spirit had been incapable of fighting off.

Having the curtain of death peeled away from him by Tenseiga was something he couldn't describe. The two-fold sense of shame and disappointment had been overwhelming for a heart already scarred and rent to pieces by poison. His father's sword would only retrieve a spirit once from death, the disdain it felt when performing such an act on him was a suitable explanation as to why.

His father's sword had also never been known to take orders from one who was not him. It...

Someone else was here.

Sesshoumaru could only keep his eyes closed where the heavy lids had fallen shut. He heard the sword smith's clawed feet crunching over the pebbled ground, sensed Bakusaiga's muted presence as the sword was lifted and examined. Over the roar of the water there was the sound of idle splashing as the old demon waded into the pool and retrieved something, then calmed the killing blade by returning it to its sheath. Finally, Totosai's steps brought him closer to the Demon Lord, and the aged smith sat down on the pebbled ground, depositing his sword next to him.

There were several moments of silence, and then his father's friend spoke to him.

"For all the things that fang had to say about your courtship and love, Lord Sesshoumaru, I never expected that the last one to accept Lady Kagura would be your father." Was that the reason behind the poison then? Could actions like that even make a claim to logic? "I've seen your swords argue before, I don't think those two will ever really get along, but this time I heard them shouting from miles away."

Yes, if he listened now Sesshoumaru could almost hear- more like he could _feel_ the enmity between Bakusaiga and Tenseiga. It was lessened now, just a memory of the argument. If Sesshoumaru strained his mind to think back, to make himself recall what had transpired through the night, he could almost place himself back within the white, parting mists of that other world. He could almost remember the sight of his father, the words of his voice lost behind the veil. But Sesshoumaru had answered them, obstinate in death as their blades argued in life. And so he was alive.

Sesshoumaru could have just opened his eyes, it would have been easier than what he chose to do instead. Both of his arms moved just enough so his palms were down on the cool, rocky ground, then he tensed. There was soreness in his limbs and spread throughout his entire chest, his armour an unbearable weight that restricted and thwarted his attempts to move. But he- slowly -forced his body to obey. Sesshoumaru's legs felt half-frozen from being submerged in water, a sensation he despised as the gripping cold had saturated his clothes and even clung to the fall of his hair. He made himself sit up, he refused to stay down.

His pride couldn't force him to acknowledge Totosai's docile presence as a threat, couldn't rile him to stand and make a show of power or apathy towards the wrinkled sage. All Sesshoumaru found himself capable of was forcing his eyes open against the glare of the sun and looking for his woman. It was impossible that the sword smith could have harmed her, but he looked for her and confirmed what he already knew: she was uninjured, she was nearby.

She was laying face down on the ground, her clothing tattered and her black hair damp and tangled around her shoulders and black. Her demonic aura had calmed but he knew something had happened to it, that something was now different. Tenseiga's naked blade had bit into the ground at her side and was holding itself up proudly, unconcerned with the woman Sesshoumaru could not get up and reach for himself. Kagura was not injured. She was just too far away.

"Rule well, my lord." There was a wheeze of a laugh before Totosai breathed the unusual words behind him, then came the sound of clawed toes scraping over loose stones as the smith walked away. It was several minutes of relative silence, the sun creeping up higher in the eastern sky, before the Demon Lord tried to move again, only to stop once more and stare at the woman next to him, and the sword standing over her.

Totosai's departing words had sounded strange to him. The smith had never been foolish enough to deny Sesshoumaru's status a Demon Lord, but the possessive had never been included unless the old smith felt his life was in immediate danger. It was strange...

But then he saw a stirring in the demoness laying beside him, and his concerns over the old man faded. Sesshoumaru's legs refused to work and bear his weight, and it was hard enough to force his arm to support him as he twisted onto his hip and leaned over to reach her. Kagura's eyes fluttered open a few times as he laid his hand on the side of her face, neither of them speaking as her gaze settled on him and he heard his mate stop breathing. Then she let a terse breath out through her nose, eyes on him until they started to glisten and shed tears silently. Finally she calmed, and still without a word to him Kagura was reclaimed by sleep.

He followed her.

* * *

><p>By the time his mate woke again Sesshoumaru had finally moved them. He could stand being exposed without cover no longer and retreated with her until they reached the first of the trees within sight of the spilling falls. There was only so much grass for him to choose from, Sesshoumaru laying back down with his fur and arms around his slumbering wife the cold sunshine refusing to warm him or dry their clothes on its own.<p>

The scar from his mother's whip was nothing but a smooth discolouration on his chest, and he assumed his back where the lash had punched directly through his body. Too close to his heart, which was where he found Kagura's comb as he explored the wound. The distance Inukimi had afforded him with her strike had only given Sesshoumaru time to leave the battlefield before the organ in his chest was rent and burned beyond all use. Tenseiga had repaired the damage, but the fatal wound remained visible to remind him of his restored life. Unlike the deep perforations Boreas' ice had rent through his skin, the round burn in his chest would never fade away into the colour of his flesh.

He had gathered his swords before lifting his wife off the ground, sheathing Tenseiga and leaving it on the grass where he brought Kagura, baffled by Bakusaiga's altered appearance. The yellowed sheath and torn bindings had instantly reminded him of Tetseiga's wretched appearance, the weapon only acknowledging and repairing itself after his hand settled around the spoiled sheath. It did not age again as he set it next to Tenseiga, but Sesshoumaru wasn't sure if that meant it was permanently restored: he had died. The sword's strength would not be impacted when he next chose to wield it in battle, but Sesshoumaru could already sense the change in Bakusaiga's temperament.

It had refused to harm his mate. It frustrated him to hear from the blade that Kagura had tried to abuse it like that, stirred his spent anger to the point where he almost decided to scold her for it later, but the resolve left him. Dead or alive, Bakusaiga would not tolerate the idea of its master casting it aside for harming one it was meant to protect.

Sesshoumaru removed his armour, both because it inconvenienced him and because he simply did not want it on his body. The weight was manageable the more he walked around, but he did not want to wear it. It was left sitting next to the swords before he finally reclaimed Kagura, his limbs feeling better for being made to move, but tired as the wind witch stirred and clung to him as he carried her back to the spot he had selected.

They were both awake now, but continued on in complete silence as the day drifted by. Sesshoumaru watched her clothing repair itself slowly where it had been torn and ripped apart, her comb held idly in his hand. His wind witch had changed, the wind had marked her, she was different... But she was still his, Sesshoumaru's arms wrapped around her as they shared warmth, her ear remaining over the left side of his chest as if she were scared to move. Kagura kept her eyes closed and didn't say anything, but he knew she was awake as he looked down at the sorceress.

New marks had formed on her. There was one on the inside of each wrist, and Sesshoumaru grazed a claw over the pale pink stain resting within her skin. A curling wind forming an open blossom was painted on her now, the pattern repeated again in the centre of her forehead. There was a silver shimmer across his wife's eyelids, like powder that had engrained itself into the delicate skin.

It had come from fighting him. From battling Ryokijin. From besting his mother and convincing Tenseiga to obey her will. Naraku's enslaved daughter had always been a powerful demon in her own right, competent and skilled with the wind- now his sorceress had climbed the ranks and been acknowledged for her power over and within the elements. _Kaze-daiyokai_, Lady Kagura of the Western Lands.

_'My wife...'_ Lifting a hand, Sesshoumaru pulled his claws back through his mate's loose, tangled black hair. '_The woman who will conceive my heir, the mother of my child...' _Had that not been the reason his mother had been so vehement about fighting Kagura in the first place? To test her fitness to bare his son? Inukimi's grandchild?

"Kagura..." He saw his woman flinch, felt her body tense and twisting against him- cold muscles warming after so long idle on the hard ground. Lowering his face down so the bridge of his nose was touching hers, Sesshoumaru allowed a low, rumbling sound to reverberate from deep in his chest. His eyes slid closed as he tasted her scent on his tongue and let the warmth of her breath flutter past his throat. "This Sesshoumaru wants to see his Lady's eyes..."

So they opened. It took time for her to collect herself in her mind, Sesshoumaru's heart distant from hers and allowing the door to remain closed between them until she was ready. Tears she couldn't shed clung to her eyelashes as Kagura stared past him, one hand pressing down on his chest while the other clutched his left wrist where the arm was draped around her back again. She pressed her ear over his heart and Sesshoumaru lifted his right hand so he could hold the side of her face, the pad of his thumb brushing over the silver of her closed eye.

"...Why did that happen?" Her voice was both soft and rough, as though her throat were raw. His fingertips traced down her skin, mindful of his claws over the soft flesh, until his touch was hovering over her voice-box. He couldn't do anything for the soreness, not like this, but he could acknowledge it before speaking.

"Would you not wish to test the intended mother of your grandchild?" Kagura tensed and rolled over in his arms, she pressed her face against him and rubbed too harshly for it to be a nuzzle- she was trying to wipe away tears and wake up at the same time.

"I wouldn't kill my child to prove it..." He kissed the top of her head, because he wanted to and he could.

"Fix your hair." She shifted and sat up between his legs, Sesshoumaru holding the white comb out to her as Kagura's tired red eyes watched him. He dropped his hand when he saw her move in, her touch spreading across both sides of his face before she pressed her lips to his and the Demon Lord let his eyes slide shut. It wasn't much of a kiss though, Kagura retreating as soon as he reciprocated and forcing him to take her chin in hand to bring her back. Once he was satisfied with the taste of her and had sensed her tears come and go again, then he let his woman pull away from him.

"My head..." She said softly, taking her comb from him as he offered it again, dragging the teeth through the tangled black strands until she could twist and tie the lengths back up behind her head. Kagura winced at a wayward flash of sunlight and Sesshoumaru lifted a hand up to brush his fingertips over the mark on her forehead. Her eyes snapped open and stared at him. "What...?"

She touched the mark on her face in shock, and in doing so caught sight of her own wrist. Sesshoumaru simply watched with a mingled sense of pride and amusement as she became more animated and climbed to her feet, Kagura's balance perfectly maintained as she found two more pale pink designs on the insides of her ankles. Her obvious confusion gave way to a thoughtful expression, Kagura slowly sinking back down to rest against him as Sesshoumaru sat up.

"I cut a piece of my own aura to use a wind scar..." She explained slowly, her back against his fur as Kagura drew his arm around her waist and held it there "The demon who lived here was too weak for me to use, but it hurt so much that I..."

"You could have killed yourself." His amusement faded, a slow, deep, unimpressed sound rising out of his chest as Kagura rubbed one of her ankles with a hand. "If you were not strong enough, you could have died."

"I became stronger." She had, and that was why the wind had marked her. Closing his eyes, Sesshoumaru nudged the back of her head gently with his nose.

"Should I die again before you-"

"Sesshoumaru-"

"_Should _it happen again, Kagura." He tightened his hold on her, squeezing up under her ribs intentionally so it would be harder for her to breath. His witch tensed and squirmed a little against him, but was quiet and turned her head towards him as his lips moved down over her ear, nuzzling the smooth skin of her cheek. "You will have every right to claim the Western Lands as your own, much as my mother has tried repeatedly to do." She snorted loudly.

"Hmph, then Inukimi should die before either of us." Listening to his mate's growing frustration, Sesshoumaru smiled and lowered his lips to her throat. She resisted him for a moment, then slowly shifted around in his lap and kissed him, her teeth grazing his lips before she decided to let him in. He had one hand behind her head bracing her neck, his other wrapped around her waist and holding her body, with his armour still resting next to him on the grass, Kagura's soft warmth easily penetrated the silk wrapped around his torso.

Kagura broke the kiss first, the bridge of her nose resting on his again as the marks on their foreheads touched for the first time. They weren't mating marks, they hadn't been placed by one on to the other, but Kagura still took a deep breath and Sesshoumaru kept his eyes closed as a short spark of energy passed between them.

"You are the Lady of the West." He stated, looking at her now as her face moved away from his. He tilted his head to the side for a moment, curious about her reaction to his next words. "Mother of my heir?" It should not have been a question, Kagura was his wife and mate, her duty wasn't just to stand by his side and warm his bed...

"Someday." She answered, a playful smile tugging at her dark red lips. This almost surprised him, he would have thought that the idea of being compromised for so many months would be revolting to her, the wind wasn't meant to be held down.

But even as Sesshoumaru considered that, a soft breeze came fluting through the trees and caused the topaz drops in her ears to swing. Her bangs moved slowly in the wind before his woman's attention was abruptly taken from him, the Demon Lord scowling down at her. She made a dismissive gesture with one hand and he almost mistook it as one meant for him, eyes widening indignantly as Kagura blinked up at him in confusion.

"Not you!" She laughed, sitting up and holding the side of his face as she kissed his cheek- his cheek? "They're coming: Kanna and Jaken and-" Hmph. That was hardly a reason for Kagura to sound so pleased, and to emphasize this Sesshoumaru made them both move very abruptly: testing his strength and speed at the same time as he laid Kagura down on her back and placed himself over her, growling at his woman to make her stop talking.

"_Kagura-_"

"Idiot! You're barely dressed and they're on their-" He didn't need his mouth to silence her, pressing his weight down over her hips and watching Kagura catch her bottom lip between her teeth. She insulted him but had her hands on his shoulders, fingers tangling with his hair and pulling down on him. Foolish woman, he wasn't going to embarrass himself with her, his senses already fanning out to locate the approaching party. He had a few minutes. "Get off!"

"_Woman._" She glared up at him, and Sesshoumaru lowered himself down until his lips were directly over her pointed ear, Kagura's body twisting under him as his deep voice moved through her. "When I take you home there will be _no one_ to interrupt me." She froze and he heard her heart beat pick up behind her ribs, sensed her arousal and smirked as she unwillingly let him rise back up onto his knees, climbing off of her so he could fetch his armour.

Sesshoumaru was just replacing Tenseiga and Bakusaiga at his side when Kagura finally spoke up again, Jaken's caterwauling already audible on the winds.

"Home?"

"Home."

* * *

><p>The river was powerful, loud and bathed in the mists of its fury. It came running through the mountains and then split itself at a dip in the highlands; the northern arm was powerful and strong, an untamed current of fresh water spilling rapidly in a race to the sea. The southern arm was shallow, calm, with banks no higher than the middle of the flow.<p>

The lesser water came down from the highlands in a stepped cascade, creeping past a crumbled mountainside and passing idly along down the bends and slopes of the landscape. The current gurgled as it skipped and meandered along, a lake some miles off its destined end and contented fate. In the white autumn sunshine the clear water held no colour, the little silver fish no longer than a human hand as they fed on green rocks carpeted in algae.

_'Why did he send me to check on this?'_ The wind skipped and moved along the currents as well, touching the waters were they bubbled up and reached like curious fingers into the air. _'There's nothing here, the river's washed it all away.'_

The wind continued down and down until it reached the lake, then pulled itself around and sprinted back up the glittering trail. Over smashed stones and disturbed river beds, past quiet estuaries and along beds of polished stones.

_'Oh... Who are they?'_ Until the elbow of the river came into view, the junction that shaved off the lesser stream from its mother.

Orange hair and hooked noses, pale eyes and dark, amber skin. The wind skated through the trees and doubled back on itself, plucking shouted words out of the sunshine and sky.

"_Bring more rubble over this way."_

"_Careful! Don't touch the water!"_

A frightened shriek and a burst of fire and feathers almost saw one of their numbers vanish over the tame falls. Even this lesser band of water was a dangerous place for one made of heat and air to work. Water splashed as heavy boulders, one by one, were rolled and carried and dragged from land into the river, a pile forming on the shore and creeping out into the shallow flow.

_'Is this what he wanted to check?'_ Yes, the wind decided that this was what it had needed to see. _'Time to go home then.'_ This would bear watching... but for now...

The wind spread itself thin and raced up, higher and higher over cold land and sleeping wood. The remains of a scarring inferno slowly fading in the wake of wind and rain; spring would mend the gaping wound in the landscape.

'_They did well, restoring the land...'_ Fujin would be proud.

* * *

><p><strong>*closes second story arc* What comes after this? Wouldn't you <em>love<em> to know!**

**Review, people. I'm gonna go to work for now and then spend the rest of my Tuesday working on finishing 22. =P**


	22. III: Almost Forever

**District 9 Main Theme, Sad Inuyasha Playlist, Together Again, Things I'll Never Say, Pts. of. Athrty, KRWLING, PPR: Kut. (My Reanimation CD finally came in! YAY!)**

**ALRIGHT THEN. As many of you have noticed, I took a few weeks off from updating and I come to you now with several chapters all ready to go! I paused when I did because chapter 21 was a very nice place to take a break, since this update, hopefully, will restore some urgency to this fic. **

**Original Update days currently do NOT apply, because this arc is only so many chapters long and I have to finish the content after chapter 27 still. HOwever, I've got a few weeks worth of updates now, so no sense delaying any longer. **

**We'll say updated every Wednesday, to spice up the mid-week? Happy Hump Day!**

**Get reading!**

* * *

><p><em><strong>To Make Things Right<strong>_

Almost Forever

Rivers were powerful things, even the shallow and the calm had the persistent nature of the water that ran through them. Rubble cast idly into the flow was broken down and lost amidst the endless churning of the liquid road, and silt and sands deposited into the lap of the river were just carried away in clouds of brown and grey.

But stakes of wood could be driven into the river bed.

Posts to hold large boulders that were shaped into building stones.

Human hands did not succumb instantly to the wet and the cold, and their numbers were easily corralled to perform the work. A single man was a weak thing, easily maimed or killed by even the slightest upset in the world around him, but a group of men could survive. A village of people could change the landscape where they settled; humans were the creatures that brought water where there was none, who carved away forests for villages and farm land, who cultivated only the plants they wanted rather than allow nature's wild hand to paint a different image.

So the birds were using the humans, and the wind spiralled freely from east to west, north to south, looking over the progress of so many busy hands and anxious masters.

It was summer again, that hot, dry season where the will of the river was lessened by the intensity of the sun. The river grew tired and slow, sinking down as the junction was slowly cut off, one branch of the sprawling web severed.

It took three years to accomplish, and now it was complete.

But what was it?

* * *

><p>Fifteen years ago, Kagura awoke in a dank, blood-soaked cavern. She spent the next eleven years completely alone, with only irritations and curiosities to attract her attention and keep her from going insane from complete and utter boredom.<p>

Four years ago, her Sesshoumaru had broken free of his icy prison and returned with her to the islands that they called home. Of course, his home_land_ had been completely decimated in the meantime. A summer and autumn had been diligently spent getting on each others raw, newly-wedded nerves, saying stupid things, and performing acts of petty (or serious) violence against one another.

But finally, after dealing with her sister, and his mother, and a misbegotten fire-bird, Kagura had come home to her husband's palace. Home. It was a strange notion, an unnatural assumption that there could be one place where the wind would go to rest itself yet still feel free. And the castle was almost a disappointment: nothing but a charred mountaintop sporting a ruined complex, but over the next three years the place grew on her.

Sesshoumaru's palace was an ancestral estate passed down from his father, but he admitted openly to never spending more than a few days a year within the walls before his extended absence. Even as it was repaired he didn't seem too interested in ever visiting the place, it simply wasn't something he valued. And this attitude suited Kagura just fine: unless Sesshoumaru was home then why would she ever want to stick around the complex? She was the wind, she was _free._ Just because Kagura had mated didn't mean she was going to turn into some domestic nanny, pumping out little canine brats every year and growing fat off sweets and goodies.

The only condition he ever put on her was this: she was not to battle with any demon from beyond his territories. Fine. Kagura didn't like that he thought he could order her around, but she had no intention of picking a fight along his borders either. She wanted to fly free in the wind and spend her days wandering with Kanna, to sleep under the stars and feel relaxed, at ease, peaceful the way she'd been on that dreary Thracian mountain, but without the loneliness of that foreign life.

And having a home to return to was something Kagura learned to appreciate. There was a weak barrier surrounding the mountain where the western lords had made their home for eons past, just the sort of thing to stave off migrating birds, lesser demons and wandering humans. Kagura could pass through the barrier of light and wind easily, almost without thought, and emerge in the bright sea of blue sky and white cloud that surrounded the mountain's peak.

She didn't care much for the buildings, a castle was just a castle and Kagura had spent too much time pent up inside Naraku's crypts to be taken with the reconstructed balconies and elaborate walk-ways. She didn't care about the gold detailing on the paper walls or the smoothness of the tracks holding the sliding doors. In fact, after three years of living there Kagura had hardly been inside for long enough at a time to know where any of the rooms even were. And that was just the point: Kagura now had all the time in the world to figure those things out.

Where Kagura _did_ learn her way around was the gardens. Sesshoumaru described to her an image of a flower garden that had been put together by generations of conquerors bringing back blossoms from across the world, from all sorts of campaigns. But those displays were gone now. Ryokijin hadn't cared for flowers: he'd torched the entire mountain when he robbed Inukimi of her prize...

So now it became Kagura's project instead.

It wasn't a chore or an assignment. It was something to do when she felt a little bored, a bit listless, or without direction. Kanna could use her mirror to show her every plant already in the garden, and from there the two could find whatever shrub or grass or bloom was missing and fill it in. Kagura brought back clipping from trees she liked, or the seeds of flowers she enjoyed, she even added a grove of fruit-bearing plants for herself. No Dog Demon had ever thought to plant fruit trees or shrubs or vines around the palace, and Sesshoumaru was still strictly a carnivore, but Kagura simply could not tolerate eating flesh.

There was ample space for these groves anyways, the entire mountain was bathed in sunlight for so much of the year that Kagura never had to worry about anything she brought back with her for the servants to plant. And since she and Sesshoumaru were so rarely within the palace, there weren't very many helpers to become familiar with.

Jaken travelled with Sesshoumaru or stayed at the palace, Kanna remained with Kagura and occasionally Kohaku would find and check in with her. He wasn't a bonded servant, so she let him just come and go as he pleased, sometimes even helping if a threat to Kohaku's precious human wards was serious enough- but not so serious as to require the Demon Lord's intervention.

As for her mate... Kagura didn't trail along after Sesshoumaru very often, it was boring and when he wasn't moving towards a specific goal his pace was just too slow and leisurely for her. If he was within the territory then every few days or so they'd cross paths- or almost cross. Usually whoever noticed the other first would veer around to avoid being noticed. It wasn't really a question of whether or not Kagura _knew_ he was just over the cliff edge or if Sesshoumaru could point to the tree she was standing behind- the rule was how long it took before either Kanna or Jaken noticed that they were being watched.

Kanna was undoubtedly the wiser of the two. The glass girl no longer expressed confusion when Kagura would decide to bathe without her sister nearby, and she could have sworn the mirror demon almost looked amused when it took Kagura the better part of an afternoon- or maybe even all _day_ -to come back. But without fail, Jaken would scream and blubber and cry every time Sesshoumaru took off unexpectedly into the air without him.

Sesshoumaru enjoyed chasing the wind, or even being chased himself depending on how playful his mood was: he was still a dog. Sometimes the hunt would only last a few minutes, but if there was something to fight for then Kagura knew they could keep pace with one another for several hours if they wanted to. The only thing that mattered was that somebody got caught in the end. Usually it was her, but sometimes, _rarely_, her mate would have to stop and growl and sulk, or stand brooding over a tall cliff until she let go of his fur or unhooked her arms from under his shoulders- holds he couldn't break without hurting one or both of them in the process.

His longest sulking spree had been two entire days. Two days where he'd blatantly ignored the fact that she was hanging onto his fur, and therefore following him around like a kitten- puppy! Not a kitten. She'd not been surprised to learn that he was, obviously, not fond of cats.

Unfortunately, their longest time apart was usually a lot more than two days. Unless Kagura found something particularly nice for the palace gardens she often only went back to the castle after a week or two went by with no sign of her husband. It meant he was on a conquest, off beyond the edge of the Western Lands and killing things she wasn't allowed to kill- not because Kagura couldn't but because Sesshoumaru wanted the blood for himself. Selfish mutt. He didn't tell her to go to the castle when this happened, in fact he almost never bothered to mention that the _such-and-such_ clan of _what-ever-they-were_ that lived _over-that-a-way_ (often led by their leader _what's-his-face)_ were up for slaughter. He just left, and when he was finished expanding his territory Sesshoumaru always returned to his palace first. He would rest within the barrier if he was injured- although he rarely came back with anything that hadn't healed beforehand -and he'd do a general sweeping check of the estate while he was there for good measure.

So that was where Kagura would wait for him, just not inside. Whenever he came home he always aimed for a specific part of the gardens on the east side of the mountain; near the peak. It was a private, walled space with a large pond and wooden bridges that zigzagged across the moving water. Kagura had re-planted floral trees in this area, most of which lacked fragrance, and it was one of the few places she hadn't felt a need to change from how it had been before Ryokijin's fires.

There was no second barrier over that east garden, with its small, growing willow tree and a few red maples taking root around the wide pond, but there had been one before. The walk-ways connected the palace at large to a small, solitary building hidden behind the re-planted beds of bamboo. This place was quiet, it was protected, it was the only part of the gardens that Inukimi had had any interest in restoring, and despite the issues with her mother-in-law, Kagura respected it as well.

This was Sesshoumaru's garden. This was the place where he had grown up under the protection of both his parents. The bare patch of ground with no grass or plants was where he had first learned how to fight- probably wrestling against his father as a child. The rebuilt structure in the garden had been his room- and it really was just one room. Inside the four paper walls was a square perimeter walk-way with a large, comfortable futon laid in the centre for sleeping. Sesshoumaru had allowed Kagura to add sheer white curtains (with absolutely no decorations or stitching or anything stupid like that) to hang over the futon for a _little_ more privacy when the walls were opened up for a breeze in summer, but that was the only change she made.

It was their room, and it was the only one they needed. It was where she kept the gifts he brought her every time he went away. It was the only place he ever made love to her indoors.

He'd been gone over two months this time- two months! That bastard! and Kagura was waiting for him on the walkways in his garden. The sun was setting in the west, the light igniting the palace beside her and staining the sea of clouds with goldenrod and crimson where, from her place on the boardwalk, she could see clear over the wall and spreading estate out into that breathtaking panorama. The water under the walkways was gold and glittering like sand, her shadow cutting across the beautiful effect as she just paced back and forth, _back and forth,_ waiting for Sesshoumaru to arrive.

Because he was coming, Kagura could feel that much. Between the marks in her skin and the hum in her mind, Kagura knew he was on his way home and that he was coming closer every minute. But damn if she wasn't mad at the same time! She kept snapping her fan open and shut, letting the wind touch her skin as her feet clunked over the dry orange wood.

Prig, selfish mutt, stupid dog, brooding pup, bastard, fool, ass- the list went on.

_'My mate, my husband, my lover, my Sesshoumaru- no one else's. He's mine and he's coming back and he's mine, mine, mine!'_ Every step was another mark on the list, another quality, another reason why he needed to come back right now because she said so. Kagura actually found herself chewing on the white sleeve of her gown, gnawing on the spider-silk like it would somehow make him fly faster, and then she finally felt the slow burn start up across her skin that meant her marks were close enough to resonate with his. He'd passed through the barrier, and was looking for her. Kagura quickly made sure her earrings were hanging properly from her ears, touching her ivory comb with one hand as she spread her fan wide and made sure she looked fine.

She looked up into the air, and there he was.

"Yo, Sesshoumaru! What took you so long?" Sesshoumaru's feet didn't get a chance to touch the wooden walkway before she berated him, flipping her fan's green width edge-over-edge for a moment building up a soft gust of air, then blowing it towards him.

The wind pushed up and coiled around his legs, ruffling the ballooned white pants that tucked neatly into his black shoes. The yellow and indigo sash holding Bakusaiga and Tenseiga at his side waved about, the white and blue swords undisturbed as the wind couldn't penetrate under the long, overlapping sections of his black cuirass. The red tassells hooked to the front fluttered however, and the wind spread up and down his arms where they were held out just enough to steady him in the air as he landed.

Her mate's yellow eyes were closed, but his lips were parted just enough that Kagura felt him tasting the air that blew past his face. The wind curled over his cheeks and touched the crescent moon on his forehead, the last of it combing down through his silver hair before the power was spent. Kagura folded the fan as he stood up straight and proper, his composure unflappable as always, but when he looked at her in the dusk light she felt a familiar warmth seep into her skin. There was nothing on the outside that made him seem pleased to see her, his skin looked like ice and there was no hint of a smile on his lips, but those marks and that connection... she knew.

"...What's wrong?" She knew he wasn't quite as happy to see her as he should of be been.

Slipping her fan away, Kagura quietly padded her way up closer to him, Sesshoumaru not moving save to regard her with his usual stoic, dispassionate look. He was tired, but nothing about him made him seem injured at all, no deep gouges in his armour telling her he'd been in a difficult match, Tenseiga and Bakusaiga quiet at their master's side. She touched his arm, the left one, under his pauldron and Sesshoumaru remained immobile, but at least close up like this she could tell that there wasn't some sense of anxiety weedling through his spirit. If she peeked out through the doorway into his heart she could see him standing there with a keen sense of disappointment about him, tinged with frustration, but nothing radical or frightening.

"You moody canine, what's the matter?" Asking again with a smile this time, Kagura nudged his armour with her hand; just a small challenge to make him push back a little, but he didn't take the bait and just stood strong. "Did your prey run off or something?"

"My conquest was successful." Well good then! Stop looking so down! "However, my goal was not accomplished." That was strange for him to admit, but Kagura just fluttered around him and attached herself to his right side, away from the metal spikes protecting his mark. He surprised her again by reaching up across his chest and pulling at the pins and clasps inside his armour, prying the pauldron off and holding the metal band in his right hand. He'd never done that before, disarmed himself like that, but he refused to walk with her until Kagura switched sides again, coiling her arms around his left one curiously. His fingers only squeezed hers after she grasped his hand first, so at least some things remained unchanged.

"So you destroyed the rest of that salamander tribe and claimed their lands..." Now he let them walk, Kagura filling the quiet with her voice as she casually summarized his campaign. "And they had a close working alliance with another small clan not far away, so you must have killed them off too." No answer, which meant yes, he had. "Did you call on the bird demons to help? I thought they had some sort of feud with the lizards." No answer, but a sidelong look out the corner of his topaz eyes that meant no, stupid woman, he had not requested help from _birds. _Kagura just sneered up at him, if he didn't want to answer properly then he didn't get a say.

"So you requested help from the bird demons..." _Very_ meaningful look. "Or they just showed up? Alright so then the bird demons showed up and you-"

"I did not accept nor require aid, Kagura."

"Then what's _wrong?_" She looked up at him but they kept walking for a few more paces, not going anywhere specific as they ambled along the crisscrossing paths of the wooden walk-ways. They were somewhere out in the middle of the pond now, and Sesshoumaru finally stopped as Kagura ribbed him again with her words. "You're being awfully sentimental for a returning war lord. You're unharmed, Bakusaiga's content, Tenseiga isn't making you all guilty about anything, you killed all your enemies; what sort of goal did you have in mind if that's not good enough?"

He didn't answer right away, wasn't even looking at her actually, but Kagura recognized his physical reaction without needing that extra bond. He was irritated, not mad, frustrated, not _quite_ sulking, but she didn't know how tired he was at the same time, and how much of that negativity would go away once he'd rested. Kagura wasn't a patient woman, but as he deeply pondered deep things in his deep, ponderous, _pretentious_, way, she allowed herself to be distracted by less important things.

Like the fact that the sun's dying rays were doing that thing to him that she loved. His eyes were cut by the light and shining emerald and sapphire for her, a bright green coming through his pupils as the light reflected back and forth through the colours. His hair was just beaded sunshine, thousands of sparkling facets that she just wanted to touch and run her hands through. She loved looking at him at dawn and dusk, his colours were so pure during the day and night, but when he stood in transition Kagura could see any colour she wanted somewhere on his body.

_'I want our son to look like you.'_ She didn't mean to smile, and Kagura turned her face against his left shoulder to hide her grin, burying it against his white sleeves. _Inu-yokai_ bred very slowly, she'd been warned about that, but she and Kanna had already begun to talk and try to figure out what they could about what to expect. Kagura and her mate had not been _trying_, but it had still taken her four years to begin feeling different. By their estimates so far, to bring a Demon Lord that was anything like his father into the world would probably take half as long to accomplish. Two years, maybe?

"...I have failed to prove something." Hmm? Kagura turned her face away from his sleeve as Sesshoumaru's low voice moved through the air. He sounded so firm and grim, explaining in the voice he always used when he resented the topic. "If I cannot provide proof, then you will have no reason to believe me." Eh?

"_Me?_" She asked smugly. "What do you need to prove to me, Sesshoumaru?" Blinking the happy lights out of her eyes, Kagura listened to what her mate had to say, leaning on his shoulder and feeling the cool sensation of his mark through the cloth under her cheek.

"Kagura." She picked her head up as he turned a little, her grip on his arm going slack as he moved so they were facing one another, Sesshoumaru looking down a little at her face.

So melancholy, she'd have to fix that for him later. For now though, her mate just removed her hand from his sleeve, but instead of dropping it she felt him hesitate, then just continue to hold her wrist and fingers in his grasp. He didn't weave their fingers together, didn't squeeze or tug on her at all, just kept his claws from grazing her skin and made sure his grip wasn't too tight. In fact, it was hardly enough to hold her. If he hadn't been standing there so tall and proud, his eyes betraying a hint of irritation under that cold mask of indifference, Kagura might have questioned whether her bond with him was really that accurate. The last time he'd been tender and sentimental like, this he'd been screaming on the inside.

"Spit it out." Kagura didn't want to go through that again. Sesshoumaru huffed at her.

"I did not bring you a gift." Huh? That was it? Kagura was about to tell him how stupid he was when- "There was nothing suitable in the eastern highlands." Well that was fine, it's not like she needed- "Or the southern islands."

"Wait, you went all the way south to the ocean?" That was _nowhere_ near the salamanders' territory. Kagura felt her neck stiffen and placed her free hand back on her hip, giving him a sharp look. "And since when does it take you two months to hunt down some lizards anyways?" Sesshoumaru didn't take the bait, but he did answer her, still holding her hand between them.

"The salamanders kept nothing of use or beauty." And so who was he battling against in the south? "I did not go to the ocean to fight."

"Don't tell me you went looking for some sort of gift!" He didn't answer, but with his blank eyes and expressionless face, it was the silence that meant he wouldn't answer, so it was also a yes. "Sesshoumaru, why?" Oh, he was such an idiot. Everyone always gave Inuyasha grief for being a moron, but his brother wasn't any better!

"To prove it."

"Prove _what-_" Kagura pulled her hand away but Sesshoumaru snatched it back up in his, surprising her with his firm grip around her wrist before she felt his other palm rest against her cheek. His claws didn't tease her skin as his fingers moved back through her hair, his hold on her not painful as he twisted his arm and pulled her wrist up until she was made to come closer to him.

Sesshoumaru had the back of her hand placed over his heart, she could just feel it through the fabric over his chest. His armour didn't get in the way of that deep pulse, the sunlight shining off the scratched and dulled steel. The white silk wrapped around his body almost looked orange in the dying sunlight, his skin picking up the colour where his hand kept hers firmly in place on his chest. She couldn't lie, Kagura still loved that heartbeat. She couldn't count the number of times she'd fallen asleep to it...

"What I won't say." _That?_ It... surprised her that he would even bring it up. Sesshoumaru did not talk about feelings. He did not betray emotion willingly. That he loved her was never something Kagura questioned, she had for a little while but... that was gone. He was hers, he let himself be hers, allowed himself to be claimed by her as her mate, her lover, her husband.

"Heh, stupid dog..." Sighing as she gave a bored smile, Kagura reached up and touched the hand on her face, gently prying his fingers away and weaving hers through the backs to occupy his touch. "You don't have to bring me pearls or kimono to prove something like that. I'm happy to believe you when we-"

"Any idiot can rut, Kagura." Err-

Less pleasing words were rarely spoken. Kagura had been just rising onto her toes to come a little closer to her mate's lips and nose when his firm voice cut through the air. Rut? _Rut?_ That's what he wanted to call it?

"Hmph. Fine." Dropping back down without touching him, the wind witch shook her hands free of him, turning away from the frustrated mutt and snapping her fan open in disdain. She started walking as she spoke, aware that he was following her because she could hear his footsteps on the boardwalk. "And any idiot can bring back spoils for his wife- oh, _except_ for you." And then she heard a growl.

"_I love you_." He made them sound like an insult, but the words stopped her anyways. She wasn't even sure she'd heard him right until he came up behind her and continued to growl in the back of his throat. He didn't touch her, and Kagura didn't turn. "They are _words,_ Kagura, they exist only as they are spoken." But he'd said them, he'd still said them to her and Kagura couldn't get the sound of it out of her ears. She had only ever heard them prefaced with '_I will never tell you that:'_, so to hear them spoken out-loud by someone who _never _spoke more than he had to was just-

"And you think gifts are so much better?" She still had her fan up over her nose and mouth, her grip firm on the ebony handles as the green silk was washed with red by the setting sun.

"What I bring to you are treasures." He sniped. "Objects of beauty and value, coveted belongings." She had a small jewelry box carved from the heartwood of an ancient guardian tree, a kimono with layers woven to look like sun, star, and moonlight, a gold necklace strung with curved jade magatama beads. "Every trial to obtain them was undertaken for you, no one else. I-"

"What _are_ you trying to say, Sesshoumaru?" Cross with him now, but not sure how to get around it, Kagura did turn around. She moved so her shoulder was facing him and she could see her mate standing there, making herself ignore the sunset behind her as she kept her fan up where it belonged. "Am I supposed to be flattered? You're making it sound like some kind of chore, like I'm supposed to be mad at you for something." Which she wasn't, or hadn't been. Kagura was _not_ a patient person: his attitude was wearing away at her.

Because he wasn't being _clear._ Sesshoumaru seemed to pick up on that now, watching her as she heard him draw in a breath through his nose and let it out the same way. If her scent calmed him down she saw nothing of it on the outside.

"My father had Inukimi, and then he chose Izayoi over her." Sesshoumaru did _not_ like to explain himself, so Kagura kept herself from saying anything as he dropped stone words like pebbles into the water under their feet. "Inuyasha gave his heart to a mortal woman, and then changed his mind in favour of that strange girl from the future." Alright... Kagura could pretend that he was making sense but just watched as he stared at her. When she didn't give whatever answer he was looking for, she watched his thin black brows come down in a scowl. "Kagura."

"What?" His scowl darkened down to a glare. What? That wasn't permission to speak? Idiot. She placed a hand on her hip and returned the nasty look he pegged her with.

"Kagura." He said again, then took a few steps to close the distance between them. His face was just as twisted and bitter as before, and Sesshoumaru refused to reach out and touch her, but he was close. Whatever he was trying to say, he was being sincere. "You are worth more than words." No, that wasn't what he meant to say. It was that avenue into his heart, that sense of bitterness that tinged his inner world that told her he had minced his words again: something the General _never_ did. He didn't like discussing the vices of his family, and Kagura knew he hated aligning himself with them even more.

"You'd _leave_ me with more than words." She answered scathingly, watching his face refuse to change as he stood there, waiting for her reaction. It was incredible how Sesshoumaru still found ways to disgust her sometimes, but this was an impressive low.

Anger passed through her veins like a wave, heat blowing over her skin as a few irritated gusts of wind whipped past the two of them. Arrogant, insulting animal, she'd chosen a cruel monster to spend her life with.

But he loved her.

"Do you have any other siblings, Sesshoumaru?" She asked tightly, having formed a different question in her mind but letting this one out instead. He watched her, but answered.

"No." Only Inuyasha then, so she continued.

"Did the former General ever take a wife _before_ your mother?" Sesshoumaru was not _uneasy_ with this line of questioning, but he wasn't pleased either. However he knew he owed her answers now, he'd brought up a stupid topic and made an insulting claim: was he trying to excuse himself _now_ in case his loyalty to her lapsed sometime in the future? She could have screamed and attacked him for suggesting it, but didn't. Something in the feel of the wind and woven through her own skin held her explosive temper back. Kagura was the wind, she could flare up in a devastating gale, or she could build slowly into a truly magnificent display of power and control.

"Not to my knowledge." Which would match what she'd heard of the old dog already. The servants never spoke of a Lady before Inukimi, and there were only stories of the former Lord's conquests and power-hungry nature to fill the years before Sesshoumaru was born.

"Does Inuyasha still live with that girl who purified Naraku and the Shikon Jewel?" _Girl_ wasn't the right words for Kagome anymore though. She was a wife and mother, a human older than Kohaku and likely beginning to age as fast as he was. Humans had such brief lives. Sesshoumaru's curiosity was coming to the surface now, Kagura doing what she'd learned to after several years of living alongside him...

"He does." She was talking her mate out of a stupid funk.

"And am I the only woman you've ever loved? _Think _before you answer that." She removed her hand from her hip and pointed at him quickly, stopping him from blurting out a response. Sesshoumaru didn't move, his composure completely stable and giving nothing on the outside. But he _did_ pause before speaking again. He did think. He did give the right answer.

"No." It was better that he not lie, Kagura didn't want to dig much further to bring Sesshoumaru back to himself.

"You love Rin."

"Loved." He corrected. Sesshoumaru spoke quickly but not rashly, at least not enough for her to call him on it. Kagura simply stood there as he sifted through his own mind, felt him try to nudge the door shut between them and firmly wedging it open. No, he didn't get to make stupid claims about love and loyalty and then shut her out of things. The only outward sign he gave of his soul-searching was that his eyes drifted away from hers; he was still looking _at_ Kagura, but less like a person, more like an object.

"I..." She watched Sesshoumaru struggle internally, but didn't lend a hand to help him. Kagura didn't care about his pride, _hers_ wouldn't let her feel bad for him. "I formed an obligation towards Rin, then I rejected her." He'd changed his mind about the human girl.

"Your father changed his mind once. Your brother changed his mind- _once_." Keeping her fan where it was supposed to be over her face, Kagura let herself speak but didn't finish the train of thought. Sesshoumaru had changed his mind once already, he'd shuffled back and forth between what he had and what he wanted. He had chosen Rin in the beginning and then he'd taken Kagura in the end. That was the pattern he should be looking at: not consummated partners and confessed lovers cast aside for something fragile or new, but women passed over for wives.

"_Fool._" She muttered, feeling that tension seep out of her chosen one as he looked at her again and stepped forward. She didn't fight him as he touched her wrist and pushed down to remove her fan from her face, her fingers drawing the accessory closed and sliding it into her sash. Sesshoumaru moved in close enough to her that she could close her eyes and catch his scent; something her senses could only pick up when he was near her like this. It was a deep, musky smell, not as unpleasant as genuine dog fur, and with warm undertones and something distinctly masculine woven through it.

"Thank you..." Stupid, homesick animal. The walls she'd expected to feel come down before finally yielded as he shed those anxious thoughts. A contented feeling welled up in him, Kagura touching his shoulders with both hands and squeezing firmly on the toned flesh as she worked her way up to his neck, eyes still closed as strands of his hair slipped through her fingers. He was warm and he was tired, his muscles tense from being active too long and his mood dampened by fatigue. The fact that he thanked her at all just testified to how exhausted he was.

"Running around like an idiot in the south for no reason, coming back empty-handed and acting like you're some cur who'll go running off as soon as my back's turned-" He interrupted her with a kiss, but it was just a brush over her lips to fumble her speech. Kagura let her touch slide back over his shoulders and rose up onto her toes, Sesshoumaru leaning down to accommodate her as his wide hands moved around her waist and spread up and down her sides. She pressed her cheek against his, arms around his neck and eyes still closed. "You can't argue with me when you're tired, you're no good at it..."

"_Wench._" She smiled against his skin and sighed over his pointed ear- feeling it twitch sensitively as he pulled one hand around and traced a bold path across her front. The pressure of his fingers kneading through the heavy silk was welcome, his claws catching on her bodice and sash but unable to harm the fabric. His other hand was braced in the middle of her back, his fur coiling down around her hips tightly. It was like a third arm sometimes, a warm limb stroking up and down her thighs while Kagura hung on around his neck and laughed a little as she felt herself being lifted up.

"Does my lord want to eat first, or sleep?" She asked coyly, being difficult and refusing to let go of his shoulders and neck. Sesshoumaru stopped trying to free himself and just turned, walking with her suspended in the air by his fur. She knew exactly where they were going; she didn't even need to hear his deep, throaty answer to her question:

"_Neither._"

"Then do you wish to bathe? Two months is such a _long-_" Between his fur and his arms Kagura couldn't stop Sesshoumaru from finally prying her free from around his neck, his hold on her shoulders possessive as he didn't stop walking before his lips found hers. He forced himself past her smile and she felt his fangs nip at her, a deep rumble spreading through his chest as she brushed her hands back and forth over the marks on his face.

"Two months without food, or sleep, or amenities, _Kagura-_" He was growling at her, Sesshoumaru climbing the shallow steps that led to their private space and still refusing to put her down. "-means I want _my woman._"

"Are you su-?" Her feet hit the floor suddenly and she almost stumbled, cutting off her words as she felt his demonic power spreading through the air around her and answering her taunting question. Kagura looked at him for just a moment in the twilight before she decided she didn't care what he looked like right now: she cared more about how she felt, the way he made her feel as her sash was unbound by his hands and discarded. He came at her with one hand that slipped behind her head, cupping the base of her skull and bending her neck back as he kissed her. His other hand just pried open the green, clawed fingers slipping anxiously through the folds of the white underneath as she twisted her shoulders and shimmied the stiff outer layer off. It was hard to choose what to do next; to hold his face when his lips began to wander, or remove the swords from his waist? So she did neither, her fingers loosening his armour as his lips moved down her throat, the wrought iron tumbling to the floor and biting the wooden planks.

And the smell of him... That aroma that was nothing like flowers or food or any other creature, that odour that was his and felt so alluring as she breathed it in and looked for his skin. He could cleanse himself of blood and dirt, but his own sweat and oils were thick on his skin and carrying the scent she'd missed so much while he was away. She could handle two months without him, Kagura was strong enough for that, but the same two months when she started to feel that bit of life kick around inside of her? No, she needed him around for that. She'd needed the father of her unborn child to come home for that.

She'd needed to feel the claws that had ended thousands of lives nick her shoulders as he pulled away the layers of her gown, the white silk folding over itself as her chest and arms were exposed. She'd needed to be able to feel the fangs that were so sharp against her lips as she pulled his face up to hers, taste the rich, dark flavour of his mouth that could transform into the most deadly toxins. Kagura had needed to feel the powers her child was going to inherit when he wrapped one arm around her waist and almost lifted her up off the ground. And now she needed him here, on-hand, at all times so his demonic power could fill the air she breathed and help make that little knot of power grow into something its father would be proud of.

"_Welcome home, Sesshoumaru..._" His claws hovered over her back once he set her down again, her hands prying the white silk off his shoulders and grazing her nails over the mark on his arm. Kagura felt his heart pick up before his fanged mouth descended and attacked the red slashes staining her chest. And a tight heat, something electric, arced down her spine and twisted over her thighs in response.

"_Lay down, Kagura._" She needed him because she _loved_ him.

* * *

><p>As the final blush of the sun vanished over the distant western horizon, the wind moved down along the dry river banks. Curiosity guided its motions as the breeze touched the summer grasses and tugged on open blossoms. Dry stones bleached by the strong sun made no sound as a gust of air travelled up and down the winding path through the trees.<p>

The cascading falls were silent, the pools of moisture drying away and growing stagnant. The silver fish had either escaped off into the lake, or their abandoned selves were suffocated by the heat and air.

The wind took on legs and arms, a physical self peeling itself out of the constant motion and glancing about. Beyond this bend stood the overgrown remains of a land-slide three years quiet, down here in the centre of the stones and clay were the shattered lines where inhuman strength had done great violence. And further still, at the twist and bend of the silent water-way, the place where all the sand and silt and dust from upriver had settled along the banks.

Days of hot sun and no water had sucked the moisture from the soil. As the world slipped through twilight and into the cool eve, the warmth was still burning strong through the ground. Too strong.

Living eyes watched cautiously, then with growing alarm as the heat waved through the dark air, disturbing the natural path of the wind for several hundred yards up and down the river's dry bank. Layers of silt, and sand, and dirt, and ash all heating up and banishing the minute traces of water from their porous selves.

Because the ashes did not belong to the landscape that had suffered and burned years ago. The ashes were not the remains of trees and plants and animals. The ashes contained a spirit scattered and then gathered by the changing currents of the dominated river. The spirit lingered, patient and hidden so as not to exhaust itself and pass unintentionally into the next world. A powerful soul, one hungry and aware, one beginning to awaken and effect the world around it, seeking freedom.

Disturbed eyes watched the heat continue to rise, stepping back from the river bank and folding slowly back into the wind. The breeze caught the motes of ash that began to rise up on the hot air, quickly moving through and away from the growing power.

Down south to the edge of the lake, back up north to the dam that killed the lesser river. East and west along the twists and turns of the dry water-way:

Then up, straight up with the smoke and ash of the burning forest. The dark night slowly filled with harsh red and orange light, an unnatural dawn rising from the land instead of the distant eastern horizon. Fire blackened sun-bleached stones, trees harangued by fire years ago reigniting with unheard screams.

Birds took wing from the dam and woods, cutting across the wind and flashing down into the fire: the rising head and neck of a great red beast forming from the scorched ground. Wings radiating heat and crimson light spread wide and the fire lanced down off shimmering feather and radiant talon.

The wind deflected down off the back of the rising bird, avoiding the flashing crown of long gold and crimson plumes, screaming through the inferno and taking hold of the burning cinders. Then back up and away, the wind fled through the air and tore itself free of the intense heat, soaring off after the sun. Anticipating the bird's flight was not difficult, even without Fujin's insight and the god's permission to flee.

The wind escaped west, it fled the sound of the Phoenix Lord's triumphant scream.

* * *

><p><strong>Long chapter was long! Did the last part make any sense? It was awkward to write since I was all tired and I have reasons for being ambiguous. Bleh. I'm trying. <strong>

**Alright, so I'll be seeing you guys again next Wednesday! Be sure to leave a review before you go, and take heart knowing next chapter is nearly as long as this one was. Arc 3 is filled with mega-chapters!**


	23. III: Another Bad Night

**Brothers in Arms, Room of Angels, Someone to Protect, Bring Me to Life, The Only One, Points of Authority, One Step Closer, With You. Cliffhanger, Unleashed, The Chosen Ones. You'll Be In My Heart?**

**Special thanks to my fellow Kradenettes for helping me patch together a new, epic, playlist for this chapter! I managed to find l****ots of new Music by Two Steps From Hell, so check them out. **

**Also, I'm sadly starting to drift back towards RPing, but coming back to the library where I first started working on "Restoring the Wind" has helped put me in a bit of a groove. ****Hoping to hammer out the rest of chapter 27 by the end of my break today.**

* * *

><p><em><strong>To Make Things Right<strong>_

Another Bad Night

His mate was agitated.

Sesshoumaru ignored it the first time Kagura woke him up with her stirring, adjusting his arm around her back as she turned on their bed to face him. But she continued to shift and move about after that, rolling back and forth no less than six times before she abruptly sat up in the dark. He was almost irritated enough by her to ask what was wrong, but before Sesshoumaru could manage the words his woman sank back down into the bedding, wrapping her arm around his head and coaxing his face to rest against her warm bosom. With her fingertips stroking his hair Sesshoumaru found himself contented and draped his arm around her waist again, nuzzling her marked flesh before resolving to go back to sleep.

Not ten minutes later, she was restless again, but Sesshoumaru's patience were taxed and he had put up with enough. If she would not settle down on her own then he would _make_ her be still, growling behind her ear as a warning to stop moving and go to sleep. When Kagura disobeyed him Sesshoumaru ignored his wife's weak protests as he pulled her onto her back and held her down under him.

It was not uncommon for him to use force to get his way with her, Kagura relenting after a brief struggle, a bite on her shoulder making it harder for the other demon to object. He let just enough venom seep into her blood to make her movements slow and sluggish, licking the wound clean so her blood wouldn't stain the bedding. She was willing by the time he entered her properly, moaning his name and moving with him, her insides taught until she found her release and he satisfied himself in her warmth.

It ended with her red lips parted and still panting for breath, her dark hair tangled and sticking to her sweat-misted skin. The sight and smell of her fed his pride as Sesshoumaru settled, for the last time, next to his smiling mate.

Now go to sleep, woman.

* * *

><p>"...<em>Sesshoumaru." <em>For Fujin's sake, Kagura.

Only an hour after rendering his wife incapable of movement, Sesshoumaru not only woke up to find Kagura absent from her side of the bed, but actually half-clothed and kneeling in the corner of the room. It was dark but the summer sky was clear, the moonlight spilling in through the open walls and showing her to him. Something was wrong.

Kagura had managed to pull on the sheer blue layer of her gown, the whispering garment shimmering as the moon rays touched its hem over her thigh. She'd already put her arms through the sleeves of the white silk that went over-top, but there stayed frozen. Her dark hair was still tousled and hanging in heavy curls around her shoulders and neck, but she didn't make a move to fix it.

In front of her Kagura had opened the panel on the floor where she kept her gifts from him. Her jewels were stored in a lacquered black box whose lid was shut in the moonlight, a set of combs resting untouched in their places as she left her hair how it was. Kagura had opened the wide box where one of her other kimono had been folded and put away, but opted instead to put back on the eastern gown from before. As she grabbed the discarded bodice off the floor where they'd left it earlier, Sesshoumaru finally stood up.

She was on edge, alert to some threat he couldn't sense anywhere around them. Drawing on his pants without binding the ankles, he tied the silk in place and picked up his discarded haori, ignoring the kosode for now as he let the red patterned garment settle over his shoulders. Bakusaiga was silent where it and Tenseiga were resting on their stand within reach of the bed, so he ignored the pair for now as he came over and stood behind his mate.

"What do you sense?" Because she wasn't acting like this to frustrate him. Kagura's crimson eyes were wide as he watched her fight with the belt of her white gown again, her heart-beat erratic and her breaths fast and shallow.

"I don't know, it- I don't know." She made herself stop moving around and sucked in a deep breath, Sesshoumaru remaining silent as his woman once again failed to calm herself down. She closed her eyes tightly and balled one hand up in a fist, shaking it as if she could force the words and anxiety to obey like her winds.

"Fly." Stepping closer, he let one clawed hand move and graze her temple, drawing a lock of black hair around behind her pointed ear. When she flinched away from his touch his frustration was still there, just mitigated now by growing concern. Her senseless anxiety wasn't quite at the point of bleeding out into him, but Sesshoumaru could feel himself being slowly effected by it.

"I don't want to." What? "Maybe I should eat something..." If she had been human then fine, for some reason eating had always worked to calm down the few humans Sesshoumaru had ever spent time around. But Kagura was not human; why was she rejecting flight and the wind in favour of fruit? Demons did not get sick, there was no reason for her to choose food over her element.

"Stay here." He didn't need Kagura wandering off while she was like this, but the restriction was just to keep her in the garden. The fact that she didn't even look offended by the order just made Sesshoumaru question whether or not he should even leave, but that was just her anxiety spreading to him. Distance, however small, would be a good idea.

"Sesshoumaru-" He had already turned to go when she said his name, calling his attention back around where Kagura remained kneeling in the same spot. She still looked nervous and upset, but perhaps not quite so bad as before. The lines of her body were still tense, her hand still balled up in a tight fist while the other was pressing firmly down on her own stomach, but she managed an unsure smile in his direction. "Thanks."

"Do not make a habit of this." Allowing herself to be overcome with anxiety over nothing. Sesshoumaru could sense no disturbances nor catch any strange scents on the wind surrounding the palace. In fact, even as a strong breeze moved through their chamber he could find nothing wrong with it at all. "And fix your hair." If she was so intent on getting dressed then she would finish the look, not keep the tresses long and unbound for anyone else to see.

He left the small pavilion with the sound of her laughter following him on the breeze. This was his palace, his gardens, his ancestral home, Sesshoumaru simply folded the silk closed over his body and didn't bother to tie the garment in place. Walking barefoot over the cool grass, a waning crescent moon hung in the sky over the sea of clouds, the Demon Lord taking to the air in a smooth glide as he vaulted the wall of the private garden.

Kagura knew better than to plant fragrant vines and plants near the sanctuary where he chose to spend time with her. He didn't particularly care what she did with the rest of the mountainside in her spare time, it didn't concern him and it kept her busy. So long as she didn't plant cherry blossoms or lilies anyplace where the wind might constantly assault him with their scent, she was free to manage the land and grow whatever pleased her. Anything was better than ashen wastes.

He followed the scent of the ripening fruit once he had gone far enough around the mountain to the beds Kagura had claimed for her food. For himself, Sesshoumaru rarely ingested the plant-matter his mate relied on, the sugars were too sweet, the tartness too bitter. Only the mildest apples and pears were tolerable for him, and even then only in strict moderation.

Neither of those fruits were in season now, but he landed down amid a grove of fruit-bearing trees and looked up through the dark leaves for a moment to check. Cherries would take too long for him to gather; they were better left to servants or Kanna. The same breeze from before followed him through the grove until he stopped beneath a heavy branch bearing a few fat peaches.

The wind was persistent, but not Kagura's; it bore none of her scent, even the trees smelt more like her. The Demon Lord grasped the soft pink fruit in one hand, his skin repulsed by the furry texture, then twisted and tugged on the fragile stem until it broke. There, if she required more then that then Kagura could come to the grove herself. The wind picked at his hair and swirled around his legs, sunlight peaking over his shoulder from the east and the bend of the mountain.

_'Dawn already?_' The wind picked up in a gust and the Demon Lord frowned in agitation. There was no sense getting mad at the natural air, but he was far enough around the western side of the palace that there should not have been a corridor here. Why was the wind still blowing? Why was it dawn already, when he could look up and see the white moon still hanging so high over the horizon?

The wind, like two hands on his back, shoved him with obvious intention. Sesshoumaru let himself take a step as his armour wasn't there to mitigate the blow, a spot of pain in his shoulder telling him he had been burnt by something. He turned into the growing light and felt the heat the air carried with it, looked down briefly at the grass and saw a small stick of charcoal glowing red on the wet grass.

It didn't matter how it had gotten there, how the wind had carried it was not important.

_'I smell smoke.'_ Because he could see the haze of ash, and across the rolling sea of clouds he could see the uneven rise of light creeping in from the east.

The sun could ignite the entire horizon, the dawn was a force of nature that scared away the tranquil night with increments of colour. This was a crimson veil that was focused beyond the curve of the mountain, a plume of cardinal red rising in mock of the sun.

It was Pheonix fire and the shrieking of birds, it was the wind that was _not_ Kagura telling him that something was very, very wrong. The wind told him that something in the north and east was happening, and that he had to do something about it, and that he had to do it now.

The wind told him that a rival more powerful than Inuyasha and disgusting than Naraku, someone more insulting and disgraceful than Magatsuhi and the Panther King combined was here, at his home, attacking in the middle of the night.

Terror and indignation erupted through the doorway leading to Kagura's heart: they were coming at the complex from the east.

Sesshoumaru stopped thinking. He stopped observing, didn't notice anything else as his right hand shot to his unarmoured side and grasped at nothing: Tenseiga was with Kagura, not with him. Bakusaiga as well. A loud, feral sound tore past his fangs as he felt himself hunch over and then break into a run.

Sculpted gardens fell away as he launched himself into the twilight, heat spilling from the crown of his head as his amber eyes widened with blood and rage. He could feel his fangs growing as his muzzle was pulled out and fur sprouted along his limbs and face, his body burning up before he flashed through the air a streak of light. Flesh contorted and bones snapped in and out of place, realigning by the time he saw fire surge up and devour the pavilion where he had left his woman to rest.

His ears picked up the sound of a bell ringing somewhere inside the palace, the entire household already alerted to the attack. Birds in armour, wielding blades and fire, shrieking through human lips or with transformed beaks darted through the air. Fire-light and darkness played together to make their numbers impossible to count, but there were too many. As he closed the distance between himself and the fire, even real, _normal_ birds came darting out of the air and clipped their wings against his eyes.

This wasn't just Phoenixes.

Sesshoumaru's nose and eyes together pin-pointed the furious whirlwind spinning across the bare ground next to the flaming structure in the middle of the garden. Kagura's fan was missing but her body danced half within the wind, maintaining a wide space between herself and the birds diving through the air to get to at her.

Real birds, fire birds, featherless, ugly things that hatched from eggs and weren't quite lizards: anything that flew wheeled itself through the air and dove down at his woman. As she danced Kagura's white gown picked up all the red and blue from the sky. Her wind blades hacked off wings and dispersed flaming ashes, her body throwing itself up into the air and spinning rapidly to avoid anything she couldn't simply bat out of the sky.

In this form, Sesshoumaru was tall enough that as he came out of the air he slammed both front paws down in front of Kagura. Toxic saliva dripped off his red gums and seared the ground as he covered her with his body, unleashing a torrent of green poison out past his fangs. If she resented the protection she gave no sign of it, her winds mingling with the fumes and chasing down whatever came close enough to draw her attention.

"_Here!_" Fire erupted in front of them and Sesshoumaru bent one front leg so he could curl his paw around and drop his head, protecting the sorceress under him from the wave of heat and ash billowing from up the side of the mountain. As the heat rolled over him Sesshoumaru felt his mane catch fire and several thin, shallow gashes open up along his back and shoulders, Phoenix blades and talons catching in his fur.

But he heard Kagura's voice over the din, and then he felt something press against the exposed pad of his paw. Bakusaiga drew itself out of his woman's hands and merged in with his transformed body, thrumming with indignation and the need for blood to repay the insult. Tenseiga did not follow however, which meant Kagura had only been able to grab one of his swords before escaping the fire and beginning to fight.

_'Damn them!'_ It was Tenseiga that he needed if the Phoenix clan was here- but _why_ were they here?

They had no reason to rally, their numbers had been kept under strict watch for years now! A weak number had maintained a hold on the old volcano on the north-eastern corner of his territory, the edge of his border with Inukimi. Between the two of them the birds had had no time to rest easy and plan a counter strike; this war was _over!_

He felt Kagura blend into the wind, her wrath a tangible force pouring into him as they both stood with open doors looking into one another's hearts. There were times when bleeding emotions had its place, and as Bakusaiga heckled his blood lust and he crushed Kagura's fear, this was one such case.

No longer concerned with defending her, Sesshoumaru rose up and snapped his jaws around the first agile body to stray too close to him. An explosion of fire and ash dazzled his eyes before his ears warned him to twist and bend his shoulder down to avoid the stream of fire that came out of the air. Another gush of acid launched itself out of his throat, some of it igniting on the flames burning freely across the garden, the inferno spreading closer to the castle at large.

Another fire bird was crushed under his paw as his tail swatted some flying creature out of the air behind him, Sesshoumaru growling and booming his challenge out at the disorganized flock as they swept and dove around. He could see them, buzzards and hawks and gulls, all manner of bird and related demons that avoided his claws and teeth. The masses were carrying burning twigs and embers in their beaks and talons, throwing the fire at him or onto whatever patch of ground wasn't yet burning.

They were answering the call put out by someone greater than themselves, a power they feared more than the flames they were spreading.

_'Impossible._' Maybe a brother, or a son, or the leader of another tribe entirely, but not him. That was not possible.

Sesshoumaru bellowed his challenge again, but no one bird rose up to meet him properly. The Demon Lord's frustration peaked and he leapt and smashed his paws down over the remains of the pavilion he and Kagura had shared less than an hour ago. One of the three standing walls collapsed, the roof already a lopsided heap as he reverted back to his smaller form and dove in through the heat and smoke.

Tenseiga. He needed Tenseiga.

Barefoot and snarling, he used sheer will to protect himself from burning timbers and the shattered floor. He found the sword stands that had rested next to the futon, but no Tenseiga. Bakusaiga pulsed at his side, like it was calling out for its oft-resented partner in the noise. Darkness and red light were the only definite things around him, the smoke thick in the air and suffocating his senses despite the roof's collapse and two missing walls.

"_Tenseiga!_" It would answer him! It was his sword!

"Looking for this?"

Sesshoumaru leapt _away_ from the voice before he actually looked in the direction of the sound. His feet gripped the hot wood floor as a sharp blade followed by an after-image of yellow light arced through the black space. The naginata's head moved fast enough to slice through the smoke, the grey ash a screen that obscured both scent and face as Sesshoumaru's neon whip launched itself from his fingertips, searing through the shadowed image in front of him.

The Phoenix moved, but Sesshoumaru had already tasted the aura. Bakusaiga roared in outrage at his side as he drew the killing blade and caught the return swing of the staff.

"_You!_" The sword-end of the naginata locked with Bakusaiga and then pulled away, Sesshoumaru's hands both wrapped around the thatched hilt of his sword and holding the blade up and ready in front of him, one leg back and both knees bent. He could breathe just fine in the smoke, red eyes focused solely on the elaborately garbed demon in front of him: he couldn't help the colour, in fact he couldn't even stop the growl from resounding through his chest. With only Bakusaiga in his hands, Sesshoumaru couldn't find his calm and centre.

"Immortal, remember?" With so many distractions it took until Ryokijin moved properly into a panel of firelight for Sesshoumaru to properly see that loathed face.

Nothing had changed, not even a scar from the abuse the Pheonix's skull and jaw had taken from the death Sesshoumaru had given him. The same long red hair was bound back in a flowing tail behind the Phoenix Lord's head, the same geometric marks marching across his brow under the metal-studded band of his rank. His blue eyes shone like white fire in his eyes though, shedding an intensity and rage that Ryokijin hadn't flaunted in his previous life, the lines of his face otherwise still exactly as they had been.

Even his ugly, garish clothes were what Sesshoumaru spitefully recalled. The red feathers and blossoms patterned over his white haori were covered now in part by a brilliant red and blue cuirass. The colours clashed horribly, even in the darkness, with the wide orange pants billowing around his ankles.

"Relax, Lord Sesshoumaru, I'm not interested in taking your bitch for myself again." That voice, how he hated that voice. "She reeks even worse than before." The only reason he didn't lunge while the Phoenix was in mid-taunt was because he couldn't see what Ryokijin's other hand was doing. His staff was held up with only one arm, something Sesshoumaru could easily just bat away with Bakusaiga and attack through: but that would rash, and he controlled the sword's intense reaction.

No idiot would stand in front of an opponent with a guard he couldn't reinforce or a feint he hadn't planned. And the Phoenix was holding his arm back intentionally, keeping whatever he was holding out of the fire-light. Sesshoumaru couldn't watch him too closely though, if he took his attention too far off the staff then he-

The Phoenix said _something_ but moved at the same time, Bakusaiga cutting through the air but missing the bird as Tenseiga resonated. It sounded like the cry of a caged animal as the healing fang came swinging around in its sheathe, clutched in Ryokijin's hand. Kagura's green bodice was hooked onto the sword's end and came flying up into Sesshoumaru's face to distract him.

Her scent had nothing to do with it: the bastard _threw_ something at him! Sesshoumaru's fangs were bared at the outrage but by the time he shook away the garment with a rough jerk of his head he felt a hot pain slice across his right shoulder. The naginata's head cut straight through the demonic silk, Sesshoumaru too slow to get away in time.

He jumped back and to the side, almost colliding with a fallen beam before launching himself forward at the fire bird. Ryokijin had Tenseiga tucked into the belt around his cuirass and a sick grin on his face as his staff moved around in a smooth, fast arc to cut off Bakusaiga's path towards his throat. There were wires wound around the base of the staff's bladed head, a useless decoration that revealed its purpose as Bakusaiga's edge was snagged by the coiled loops, the sword unleashing a shock of temperamental green energy in reply.

Refusing to drop his sword as it fought to free itself, Sesshoumaru clenched his teeth as his bare feet struggled to find purchase on the smooth, dusty floor under them. The staff moved back and freed Bakusaiga, the hilt held by just his right hand now and too far out to the side to come around and counter the blunt end of the naginata as it swept in and collided painfully with the left side of his chest.

He was knocked off his feet and the Demon Lord felt at least one rib give under the blow, his green lash sweeping out and aimed to cut across Ryokijin's eyes. The Pheonix just grinned and launched himself backwards to escape, vanishing through the smoke as the Dog General caught himself without hitting the ground. Sesshoumaru saw his discarded armour on the floor, but that wasn't the _point_: he couldn't just stop now and strap on the demonic plates! That wretched bird had Tenseiga!

Enraged, Sesshoumaru launched himself forward through the smoke-screen, emerging back out in the constant noise and movement of the battle. Overhead he was aware of green lightning flying from Un's mouth, the screams of the Nintoujou and Jaken needling through the shrieking of the birds. Several brilliant flashes of mirror light and the chaotic reaction of the garden's pond all hinted at Kanna's involvement, and the howling wind was not something Sesshoumaru could easily mistake.

"_Bakusaiga!"_At his command a green wave of energy came ripping off the sword's edge, Bakusaiga's corrosive power branching off into dozens of tiny rivulets. Each one was directed by Sesshoumaru's yoki, arcing _around_ allies and piercing the flesh hearts of birds and the ashen bodies of Phoenixes, culling their numbers as a swath of clear space was cut through the battle.

Kagura's wind was there to scoop up the ashes of a fire bird who fell against his claws a moment later, Sesshoumaru wheeling around with his sword as he caught the flashing head of the naginata aimed at his back.

"Coward!" He shouted, not allowing Bakusaiga to become tangled in the wires around Ryokijin's staff a second time. As the weapons parted and he kicked himself forward on the attack. The Phoenix didn't answer him, just stabbed the blunt end of his weapon into the ground before Sesshoumaru's sword could come close enough to score his neck.

Red energy cut through the ground and tore it apart under his feet, the Dog General taking to the air over the Phoenix to avoid the burning heat that erupted from the burnt land. His arm was back with Bakusaiga ready to carve down with another blast of green- before something struck his in mid-air from above and caused him to roll away from an infuriated bundle of feathers.

His aura flared and strangled the tiny creature, dropping the bird's limp corpse before he hit the ground again on his feet. His world was whitening around the edges now, his rage building up and fed by the sword in his hands and the ceaseless noise around him. He wasn't focusing properly, and as he swung Bakusaiga again and directed the green lightning the way he had before, a sword-wielding fire-bird was there trying to lop off his arm at the same moment Ryokijin answered his attack. Getting away from both and cutting down the minion meant he lost sight of the Phoenix Lord _again_ in the fire.

"_You seem distracted._" Sesshoumaru's whip followed the voice within the red light and rising smoke, the lash coiling back around him and rippling viciously through the air as it failed to strike. The ribbon of energy continued to flash as it seared off the offensive arm of another attacking Phoenix, several small bird demons succumbing to the same fate as they recklessly dove at him.

"You attack me and then refuse to fight. I've known humans with greater courage."

"And half-demons?" Sesshoumaru turned and fell back a step to avoid the incoming head of the naginata, fire spilling through the air behind him and scoring the side of his face as he refused to look away from the Phoenix Lord. These distractions had to stop, Bakusaiga striking the bladed weapon across from it before Sesshoumaru kicked forward with his left hand dripping acid through the air. It was awkward, but he sheathed Bakusaiga at the same time as the leap, the sword volatile over his rejection but accepting it: with both hands free the Demon Lord caught the return swing of Ryokijin's staff.

It brought his lunge to an end, Sesshoumaru's feet catching on the ground as he took the force of the naginata's blow, right hand holding the weapon below the bladed head and using his arm and shoulder to stop it from pushing him too far. His left hand lashed down the body of the polearm, claws streaming poison that almost made contact with the Phoenix before Ryokijin released his weapon and leapt away again.

Still holding the staff, Sesshoumaru pulled the weapon around so the head was facing the right way- but then he tossed it down to the side. The staff burst into flames before it properly left his grasp, his hands having begun to burn just from holding the red length. He leapt forward through the air to escape the building column of fire that came streaming down from his opponent over-head, no birds there to distract Ryokijin or interrupt him. Sesshoumaru moved far enough to clear himself of the flames before he launched himself up after the Phoenix.

Outrage swelled around his heart as he heard a chain rattle below him, like the unfolding blades of a snake sword. His yoki flared and propelled him upwards with more speed to escape the weighted flail sent after his ankles, his own lash releasing itself from his fingertips and reaching for the Demon Lord he'd already been chasing down- but Ryokijin had already dropped back down into the chaos of the fighting.

Arms spread and twisting in the air so he could find his original target, the General's red eyes refocused down on the Phoenix Lord standing amidst the wind and chaos, one hand on the Heavenly Fang.

_'Ignorant fool.' _He dovewithout expression, Bakusaiga laughing at his side. Sesshoumaru knew what would happen even before Ryokijin's body give an uncharacteristic jerk, confusion flashing through the bird's eyes: Tenseiga rejected him and Sesshoumaru raked his claws over his opponent's face. The wound was only skin deep but as his feet touched down on the burnt earth he-

-felt a sharp pain lance through his side. His attention was torn from the stumbling Phoenix Lord as Sesshoumaru registered the katana that had just been stabbed under his arm, turning with his toxins ready trying to hit both birds at once. The blade twisted and became caught between two ribs, his motion wrenching the weapon free of its wielder where its angle had sent the sword out his back on the other side of his spine- fatal for a human, intensely painful for a Demon Lord.

He jumped back to escape the flames shot out by Ryokijin as the bird recovered, his left arm suspended awkwardly in the air trying not to move the sword impaling his body. Reaching for Bakusaiga again with his right hand, his ears warned him of another blade slicing through the air, his legs responding by powering him back up into the red sky. Airborne, Sesshoumaru twisted _again_ to avoid a second plume of fire coming from his right, drawing Bakusaiga and allowing a wave of electric green to wash off the sword and devour anything in its downward path.

A set of talons raked across his thigh from a bird that got too close- then it was the Phoenix Lord aga- no! It was something else-

_'Kagura-'_ There was something, a flash, a scent. There was a pulse of pure, spiritual energy and then the winds howling through the garden were suddenly reduced by half. Sesshoumaru's concentration broke in mid-air as he turned his head in the direction of the silent scream echoing into his heart. A web of white pentagrams was building itself around a struggling figure on the ground, familiar demonic energy lashing out in distress.

_'No!'_ He turned, twisting his body through the air so he could dive down and-

"_Weak!_" The tension on the sword running through him was sudden, Sesshoumaru barely registering the heat of the Phoenix Lord's aura before the unspeakable pain of the blade carving a path out through his body overwhelmed him. The cutting edge had been angled out through his stomach, and though it spared his spine Sesshoumaru felt the blade sever innumerable connections and organs within his body. His fighting instincts were instantly crushed, every ounce of power redirected internally to begin the frantic process of mending and binding and stitching- he even started falling out of the air.

Bakusaiga crackled and let out a pulse of energy akin to Tenseiga's barrier, Sesshoumaru's arm obeying his instincts and years of harsh practice as the killing blade managed to parry the blow from Ryokijin's sword; the one meant to take his head off. But he kept falling, his teeth clenched and insides burning as he refused to relinquish his sword, fingers locked around the hilt in his hands.

Another gout of flame propelled Sesshoumaru into the ground, his shoulders colliding first and leaving him stunned on his back as fire tore across his skin and blinded him. Bakusaiga negated what it could of the assault but there wasn't enough power in his own aura to reinforce the blade. He managed to roll onto his side, but the blood spilling from his split abdomen wasn't slowing down yet. He couldn't get up yet. Sesshoumaru's skin burned and cracked, weeping blood and giving off steam and smoke that attacked his eyes, clogging his lungs as he forced himself to breathe.

He would _not_ stay down. Sesshoumaru could both hear and feel the Phoenix Lord coming closer to him, the fire bird walking slowly as the sounds of the battle began to quiet around them: the birds were retreating, the wind was gone, the fires were burning down to embers and pits of black smoke. The Dog General braced his left hand on the cracked ground, gritting his teeth as he forced his mangled body to work and support him, wedging his right elbow under his chest to prop himself up. He would _stand_. He would _fight_, this was his territory!

"You lost the Western Lands fifteen years ago, Dog General." Dawn had come, the real dawn this time; pale white light was filtering through the smoke, cutting over the walls of the garden and striking the inflamed body of his palace. Sesshoumaru could see the structure through the curtain of his hair, but not the infernal creature speaking down at him through the cover. "My people have suffered, and now yours _will die._"

They had taken Kagura. She wasn't within the complex anymore, she was someplace far away and moving further beyond his senses. Her anger and her fear were still tangible to him, but the rest of it was fading.

Sesshoumaru would not tolerate laying on the ground like a wounded animal. He reached through the gateway in his heart and took hold of his woman, struggling as he might if all he could touch of her was the edge of her sleeve or a few strands of hair. Fear and anger and loss, he stole those emotions from her and he used them to make himself stronger, he fed his resentment, his indignation, his humiliation. He cleared his ears and opened his eyes properly- and then he moved.

Sesshoumaru lunged from his knees, bending his shoulder so he could roll and come up properly in a defensive crouch, his left hand down over his torn gut to, literally, keep the slow-mending tissues from spilling out of him. The naginata's head slowly removed itself from the ground where he'd been laying. The Dog General growled openly on his knees as the Phoenix stepped through the smoke, Bakusaiga held to his own right and ready, but he could feel his strength fading. Healing and fighting could not happen at the same time, and he needed to heal or he would die.

"I'm not going to kill you, not yet." Coward. "I'm going to break you first, and I'm going to do it just because I can: _you_ are no longer a threat to me." Blue eyes met gold, raw resentment crackling in the smoke-filled air. The red of Ryokijin's aura began to flare up and spread, Sesshoumaru commanding his face to give nothing as his own power, layers of white, green, and blue, rippled over his burnt and bleeding skin. The two clouds of energy came into direct, painful conflict with one another, and even when Sesshoumaru felt the blood from his gut begin to spill freely once more, he didn't stop fighting. He would _never,_ _stop, fighting._

"You are so weak." His voice could not falter, Sesshoumaru refused to let his words give in to the trauma: it was already unacceptable of him to show this much weakness. "You cannot even rely on your own strength to defeat me. _Coward._" The Phoenix's tanned face watched him with a mask of muted outrage and misplaced disgust carved over his face.

"And yet here you lay." Fire rippled from the Phoenix Lord's ankles, crawling up his body like a living shadow, filling the air where his aura had already pulsed and moved. Sesshoumaru lifted Bakusaiga and stabbed the sword's end into the ground in front of him, the sword responding and trying to fight off the surge of heat and energy that came rolling over him.

Ryokijin's fire went from red, to orange, to white, the heat increasing rapidly before a triumphant scream echoed through the sky. The Phoenix's burning wings scored the ground and caused Bakusaiga's cutting edge to glow red, Sesshoumaru shutting his eyes against the glare as he kept his arm around his waist to protect the wound.

It was the sort of heat that sucked the air out of his lungs, the light that caused pain in its own right without the rest of the power behind it. The wind that came down as Ryokijin beat his massive wings was chaotic and burning, the stink of salt, sulphur and char overwhelming and toxic. Every inch of exposed skin was burned in the display as his enemy took flight and vanished into the dawn, even his wounded leg scored by the heat where the silk over his thigh had been torn.

_'Kagura.'_

"_Lord Sesshoumaru!_" No. Kagura was more important. Sesshoumaru opened his eyes to the smoke and settling ash of the battle, the white dawn drowning out the noise of hissing fires and scrambling feet. Dead birds littered the ground, the dirt under the Demon Lord wet with blood that had spilled freely down his front and sides. His clothing was more red than white.

Gripping Bakusaiga tightly, Sesshoumaru forced himself to stand, pulling the weapon out of the ground once he'd accomplished that and sheathing the blade at his side. His body felt weak and the pain was still foremost in his sense of things. But he couldn't let himself lay down and rest. Kagura was in danger, those creatures had stolen her from him. They had taken his father's sword and they had taken his wife, Sesshoumaru would not allow them to go unpunished.

"Lord Sesshoumaru!" Jaken's body stank of burnt flesh, the retainer limping noticeably as he flopped his way over to the General, the _Nintoujou_ held in both hands as the imp cawed at him weakly. "My lord is injured! Please, sire, rest here for a moment while I find Lady Kagura and Lady Ka-" Sesshoumaru began to walk, turning away from the mangled imp.

"Kagura is gone." Speaking the words straightened his spine and set his shoulders, Sesshoumaru's hand and forearm still holding his torn stomach as he bent his body's energies to repairing the damage. It wasn't working, blood was still moving freely against his fingers, and removing the pressure from his gut just caused the endless flow to pick up. But Sesshoumaru made himself ignore Jaken and continue walking.

He would retrieve his armour, then he would go after the Phoenixes. There was no alternative, he would not sit back and rest while his woman, his _Kagura_, was in danger. Sesshoumaru had already made up his mind, he knew what was best and he knew what he was going to do.

"Lord Sesshoumaru." He knew what he was going to do! Sesshoumaru turned to look at Kanna just so he could tell Kagura's sister that he would bring her _back_. He would not allow Kanna to accuse him of not defending what was his, he would not allow Kanna to accuse him in her silent way that he was, _somehow_, unfit for her sister. He would not tolerate her disrespect, he would not accept that sh-

Sesshoumaru's world filled with the blinding white of his own reflection and dawn light. The Demon Lord didn't even feel his mangled, stumbling body collapse in a dead heap, he was gone long before Jaken or anyone else realized what had happened.

Damn them all.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter took so long to write like omg... And almost all of the chapters of the third arc are long like this, not sure why.<strong>


	24. III: Another Champion

**Kikyo no Kokoro, Not Strong Enough, Unleashed, The Chosen Ones.**

**Not my favourite chapter.**

* * *

><p><em><strong>To Make Things Right<strong>_

Another Champion

"_A Demon Lord, bearing no gifts, comes before the gods?"_

* * *

><p>This was not the field where Kagura had died. Sesshoumaru had not been drawn into a pocket of reality, a physical space between life and death from which he could communicate with a semi-cognisant spirit. He had not been drawn from a moment of deep agony and defeat into a place of comfort, no moment of solace granted to him in which to collect himself and reaffirm what the suffering was all for.<p>

No, Sesshoumaru had no reason to feel gratitude or patience towards Kanna. There was no room for forgiveness once his stricken mind realized that his battle-broken body was not with him, but he was not dead. As soon as he recognized the abysmal swamp around him as something reflected in the panes of a silver mirror, the Demon Lord felt no compulsion for calm.

"Release me, Kanna."

In this place the same terrain repeated itself after only a few steps in any direction. The ground was black and waterlogged, the stagnant puddles giving no scent as the heavy fog was without sensation. He should have felt damp and clammy in such an environment, but nothing registered. There was no sky, only the fog, and any attempt to summon his own power and fly up beyond its reaches left him tethered to the sodden ground.

So he stood there, immobile, yoki ripping off his shoulders and back as he stared up at the hidden sky. He was domed in grey but didn't care: he was going to get out. He, Sesshoumaru, would never be sealed _again._ Every ounce of power he expelled felt like lead bleeding out of his pores, an incredible weight building over his body that tried forcing him down under the mud. His mental self was precisely the same as he had been moments before Kanna had appeared with the artifact in her hands: unarmoured and bare-foot, his red-patterned kimono open across his front, Bakusaiga thrumming with indignation at his side.

"I will not be caged!"

It was impossible to only think in this place, in this prison, his voice refused to go unused as he struggled against bonds he couldn't see and had yet to escape. He could only _feel_ the mirror's oppression. Sesshoumaru's fangs were clenched, a constant growl pulsing through his chest as his tense hands struggled to produce the toxins innate in his blood: the mirror simply swallowed the poisons as they did his raw yoki. His eyes were wide and crimson, his true self hindered and unable to manifest properly like the rest of his powers. The Demon Lord felt his silver hair rise in the current of his power, but the mists within Kanna's mirror simply danced around him, as if to mock his helpless state and the turmoil beyond.

"_She is **mine!**_"

And she was in danger. He hadn't been able to stop it, he had sensed something so out of place in the battle: the sting of purifying energy. He'd seen the cage being constructed and had felt the wind rebel violently against the magic, but Sesshoumaru had been unable to stop it. Instead he had been blindsided and attacked from all angles, his opponent too cowardly to face him on his own. Sesshoumaru had watched Ryokijin vanish tauntingly into the dawn light, taking her with him. Her. His Kagura, his wife, his chosen mate. She was _gone._

A wordless sound bellowed out of his chest as Sesshoumaru dug deep and tore up all of the hatred and shame that came with that memory, devouring the emotions like a ravenous beast and letting their power rock the suffocatingly tiny world around him. Arcs of white energy jumped from the mists into his skin, painful shocks that jarred his muscles and caused Sesshoumaru to lash out at them with his hands. He swiped his claws at the vacant clouds, noise still rumbling past his parted red lips as he scraped and ripped and tore at his own insides trying to bring his true form to the surface.

"_I will be free!_" He screamed, a canine howl fluting through the words and overcoming his human voice. More pain for his resistance, more weight attaching itself like heavy slabs of metal to his body, but it was only on the outside: he was only being held down, not invaded and destroyed. Kanna worked with glass and souls, her magic could only remove things from and hinder the body, she knew nothing of its inner workings.

"_You are not a goddess, Kanna! You have no power to hold me!_" She didn't know the intimacies of air through porous lungs, Kanna didn't know how the connections of air and water could be manipulated to force the greatest pain. She was a soulless glass doll- Kanna had no notion of true torture! Her pain could not turn his very flesh to ice, shredding the fibres that controlled everything from his physical strength to his ability to lift his own head!

_He would be free!_ He would never again be tormented and captured like a beast! He would not fall back into the endless dreams of his slumber from years before! He would live! _Sesshoumaru would live!_

"You will die." _Kanna!_

The Demon Lord did not stop growling, his eyes didn't revert back and his aura did not settle as the mists pulled away from his violent swipes. The water at his feet rose up and turned to hard, warm glass, a smooth mirror forming in the mists and wetness. Staring down at the clear surface, Sesshoumaru couldn't see himself, just Kanna's form, in turn, looking down at him.

She was exactly the same as always, the two pink flowers in her hair unchanged from before, her yukata crisp and almost blue it was so white, the pink band of her obi loose over her chest and accentuating her child-like appearance. She was holding her mirror, the copper edges framing a pure white disk of glass.

And Sesshoumaru hated her.

"If you chase the Phoenix Lord, you will succumb to your injuries." More white energy leapt from the surrounding fog and shocked him, fighting to contain his aura as Sesshoumaru openly lashed out at the bonds. "I will not allow you to die."

"_You have no power to control me-"_

"If Kagura remains with the Phoenix Lord he will torture her until she dies." The mirror simply spoke right over him, Sesshoumaru bearing his fangs and snarling as his bones tried to twist and stretch, the mirror continuing to absorb the energy he put out. But he could break free, he could shatter Kanna's mirror if he poured out enough of himself. His mother had almost accomplished this, Sesshoumaru _would_ if Kanna didn't release him! "Wounded as you are, you will die before Kagura can be saved, before Ryokijin can be properly slain."

_Properly_ _slain-_ how dare this _child_ insult him! His lips remained back, his blood-thirsty eyes beyond his control as he dropped to one knee and raked his claws down over the face of the mirror. He cut gouges into the perfect surface, marring Kanna's reflection, but then water simply filled in the cracks and sealed them. Punching the glass led to the same result.

"The fires still burn." What? "Your garden has been decimated, the pond drained and walk-ways destroyed. The east side of the mountain is still in flames. The palace has sustained damage to the east wing but did the fire has not spread." How dare she- did Kanna truly believe that a few mediocre details would satisfy him? Did she think he was _happy_ to know that the useless structure now housing his body was still in flames? Was he supposed to be satisfied with knowing only _which side_ of his estate had been consumed by Phoenix Fire?

"_Kanna!_" She vanished out from under him, and the Dog General could only howl and fight to be free.

* * *

><p>The Gate of Nirvana was shadowed by the dark clouds of their battle, a Warrior who would not die facing off against a Guardian who would not yield.<p>

_'Then I'll just have to finish him!'_ Soaring up high beyond the height of the churning clouds, he felt the pull of the winds as they were gathered inside the sac his opponent wore slung around his massive shoulders. The green-skinned barbarian who guarded Fujin's realm was not an agile opponent, but his conjuring was incredible. The Phoenix Lord's grip tightened around Anba-hane's crimson length as he wheeled around through the sweet air, fire quickly enveloping his body from the marks on his brow as he aimed himself down and swept between the twisting arms of the Guardian's storm.

The heat protected him from the moisture of the clouds, burning through their damp bodies as he rolled over his shoulders to increase the effect, the naginata in his hands aligned with his form and not creating any drag. He powered down and found the clear, open corridor of air fuelling the bag around the ogre's shoulders, mingling with the gusts and holding his demonic power in close against his own body: dispersing his heat or flaunting his aura would just make it impossible to-

"_Filthy demon!"_ -get within striking distance of his opponent!

Ryokijin pulled himself through the air behind the Guardian, the creature's green body girdled with a black cuirass and a spotted yellow pelt, straw-like hair blown back over his wide head before Anba-hane's golden edge severed the creature's neck. His still-screaming head dropped out of the sky, the naginata tearing through the embossed bag of winds slung across the shoulder of the still-active body, foul-smelling blood spaying from the slashed throat.

The Phoenix didn't respond to the insult, wheeling his staff once more around his body, charging the weapon with his crimson yoki before slamming the blunt end down into the weakening torso in front of him.

His beheaded opponent fell the hundreds of feet through the air, defeated and dead in the wind. Ryokijin allowed his flames to die down once the frigid clouds began to pull away, the forces driving them released once the sac was torn and its wielder slain. The ethereal sunlight and perfect blue sky soon re-appeared, the Phoenix Lord calmly releasing his staff so the bladed weapon could retreat comfortably into his own body, a piece of himself returning to where it belonged.

Sailing down to the ground and the white torii-gate. His sandals touched down on fresh clover and sweet flowers, the rolling prairies extending beyond the imagination as the calm of the storm was replaced with the tranquillity to which he had arrived.

The body of his opponent was nowhere to be seen, all that had changed was the new presence lounging on the grass just before the white structure on the hill. Was this truly Fujin?

"I still want my gift." The true form of the Wind God could not be what he was seeing. The Phoenix blinked twice, not sure what exactly was going on- this was just a little boy.

Why would a god choose this form? A child no older than twelve and dressed in nothing but a white kosode and black obi was drinking tea, the surreal image something to give him pause. The child's flaxen white hair was braided close to the skull, dozens of white cords all pulled back and bound behind his head. His eyes were closed, but only until he realized Ryokijin was not going to answer him.

He had not brought any sort of tribute for the god, he wasn't here to impress the deity with earthly spoils, there were more important things to discuss. His worthiness had just been displayed; power was worth more than gold.

"Sukoru grows tired of always being slain, I hope you won't make a habit of it, _Fushicho-Daiyokai._" The boy drank more of his tea before finishing his statement, the Phoenix simply waiting until the child would address him properly. "So many Demon Lords in so few years. It's only been fifteen since-"

"I am not here to reminisce." He interrupted, surprised but hiding it as the boy opened red eyes to look at him, an expression of complete and utter boredom written over his cruel, youthful-looking face.

"How bitter and angry the Phoenix Lord has grown..." The child grinned, blue bleeding across the red, the same colour as deep sapphires: over-saturated and unnatural. "Come, will you tell this ancient _Kami_ what unsettles your heart, or should I simply look at it myself?" Hmph.

"Tell me the origin of this blade."

It felt... wrong, wearing the sword he had stolen from the Dog General at his side. Reaching his hand back so he could grasp the katana by the sheath under its gold medallion. Ryokijin didn't pull it out in case the god purposefully misconstrued him and tried to take the blade of his own. This sword had slain too many of his kinsmen, decimated his flock and murdered warriors and care-takers alike. Women, fledgelings, youths, they had all been struck down by this sword and the Dog General's claws.

The emotions wouldn't leave him, growing stronger just as he stood there and remembered- was _made_ to remember. He felt his teeth lock and glared down at the childish avatar sprawled on the grass before him, Fujin offering a light-hearted smile with his eyes closed. The boy-god wiggled his toes in the lush grass, leaning back on his hands on the hillside.

"That doesn't belong to you. And it doesn't seem to like you very much either." There was silence after those words were spoken, the Phoenix Lord focusing firmly on the god in front of him. "Hmph. What is there for me to explain, Demon Lord Ryokijin? You've stolen Tenseiga, the sword belonging to your military rival, the _Inu no Taishou._"

"A sword which, rumours say, carries your blessing." The god tilted his head at the accusation, a smirk pegged to his thin lips.

"This is true..."

"Remove it!" Raising his voice caused the child's smile to fall, critical green eyes watching him as Ryokijin pulled the sheathed blade out from his belt, holding it between his hands.

"...You don't even know what Tenseiga does, do you?" Fujin asked, and the Phoenix Lord fought to keep his frustration from running away with him. The sword almost felt like it gave a dull beat against his palms, a ribbing gesture that plucked at the strings of his resentment. All this pain and destruction caused by one simple weapon... "Draw it, and I'll do what you ask." He...

"Why do you choose sides?" He demanded, dropping the blade, this _Tenseiga_, and sliding it back into its place at his side. "Aren't gods supposed to stand above mortals?" Fujin shrugged at that, his voice dismissive.

"Tenseiga was blessed by me for my purposes, and when the Dog General fulfilled his end of things I saw no reason to remove the enchantment." Disgusting-

"Meddler!"

"You think you could do better, Mortal?" The Phoenix didn't reply, at least not right away. The God on the hill slowly stood up, the earthen cup having vanished minutes ago as he made the natural motion of brushing grass off his clothes and legs, then stood straight. Fujin was once again smiling. "You can sense it, can't you?"

Ryokijin did not want to answer, but once again he was _made_ to realize that there was a void in the heavens, the places where too many stars had fallen, too many divine halls desecrated and abandoned. The God of Eight Winds remained strong, but ever since the great storm years ago the lesser winds had been out of sync, neither properly aligned nor controlled. Fujin was still supreme, for now, but that did not mean-

"Do you truly believe you are _worthy_ of ascension, Phoenix Lord?" He stiffened, the child walking towards him slowly, a taunting sound in his voice. "_You,_ the Demon King who relies on _human_ magics to bind a pure _Kaze-Daiyokai! _Creatures of instinct like yourself have no place pretending to become gods." Ryokijin spoke before he could think it through, but he didn't regret what he said.

"When I rise up to become the East Wind, you will regret those words."

"When you rise up? Do you really think there's no greater master of air and fire than you in all the world?" It was not a matter of what he thought, but rather what he already knew. The Phoenix watched Fujin tilt his head back slowly, the god's eyes widening just enough to tell him how little the deity thought of all this. "Then you won't object to a challenge. When I send my Champion against you, you will die and I will raise him up beyond the threshold of mortality." _Hah!_

"And when I slay him instead?"

"You won't." He would. "Even hypothetically, Phoenix Lord, the fact that you felt so threatened by one who was once a mere wind-witch tells me you could never claim divinity." _Damn him!_

"When I kill your Champion, Fujin, I'll bring his corpse back here to you!"

"This, as in all things, you will fail." A strong wind picked up across the celestial plains, Fujin lifting his arms slowly and crossing one over his shoulder. "I will see you again in your next life, Phoenix Lord."

Before the God could blast him out of Nirvana, Ryokijin wreathed himself in flame and let an echoing cry lance off his tongue, his body morphing into the great wings and flaming crest of his true form. His raw power charred the glowing plains, ripping apart the moist soil beneath the clover and forcing a pathway back to the mortal realm.

The challenge had been issued and accepted, he _would_ become a god!

* * *

><p>"The fires have been contained." <em>What? <em>"The flames which spread from the garden to the palace, they have been contained. The eastern gardens have all been doused, they will require re-planting."

Looking through the mists as Kanna's voice reached him, Sesshoumaru let a loud growl pulse through the air between them. A shadow of the glass girl was visible in the fog, the glass and soil under his feet unchanged from the last time she had dared speak to him. He had yet to successfully shatter her damned mirror, but the reborn child kept her distance from him. Her caution gave him strength.

"Tenseiga has not been recovered."

"It has been _stolen_." He stated, making sure the words were black as he stared vehemently through the grey world. "Release me, girl." She ignored his command, it goaded him that he expected as much.

"...Kohaku has returned. Jaken succumbed to his wounds and is dead." _No!_

Rage came pouring out of his chest, a sound so raw and hateful his entire body shook with indignation. Jaken was _his_ servant, his retainer, his minion. Jaken wielded the Nintoujou because Sesshoumaru had _given_ it to him! Those disgusting birds could not take _everything _from him, the Demon Lord would not allow it! He would-

"Who is Totosai?" He snarled at Kanna as the hidden girl dared to continue speaking. The mirror world rocked and shuddered as his yoki flared and attacked the mists, his concentration set firmly on destabilizing this wretched prison. "Lord Sesshoumaru, Kohaku has expressed concern for Totosai's safety, he has offered to go to Inuyasha's village to collect him."

"Then _release me_ and I will give the order!" He rebuked sharply, the mirror world rocking unsteadily as another wave of raw green and blue yoki tore off his body. "I do not need you to give commands in my name, girl!"

"Through me Naraku was able to control legions of the Saimyosho, co-ordinate attacks on you and your half-brother, and upset the balance of nature with his miasma." And then Naraku _died!_ He was slain, he was weak: Sesshoumaru needed no nurse-maid, his battles would be fought by his own hand, not through the voice of some puppet! "No detachment of Naraku ever fought for more than his or her own life, not even Byakuya. Lord Sesshoumaru-" What was that, in her voice? A firmness? An irritant tremor? The Demon Lord growled and shook the mirror again from the inside, his every muscle tense and in pain trying to break free. "-your body will rest until dawn, if you must die the way the Great Dog Demon did then you must still ensure that Kagura survives."

"And until then I should rely on _you_ to give and receive orders?" The words were bitter in his mouth but Sesshoumaru forced himself to follow her logic, refusing to let up on his assault on the mirror.

There was no response from Kanna, Sesshoumaru's crimson eyes watching the rolling mists. He didn't know what she must have done to reinforce the mirror from the outside, but there was also no way for him to know how much time had elapsed since his imprisonment here. It could have been hours, it could have been days: the only solid information he had to work with from Kanna was that she would sacrifice him to save Kagura. She didn't need him at full strength, just strong enough to increase his chances of success.

She was using him to protect what was important to them both: Kagura's life. In exchange for taking temporary control of Sesshoumaru, Kanna was willing to reduce herself back down to the messenger Naraku had created her to be. It was not team-work, at least not in the way his half-brother and his cohorts would recognize it. They were taking advantage of one another- if he agreed to use Kanna at all.

He had no way of knowing when dawn would come without her.

"Send Kohaku."

"Stop fighting." No. "Your body was cut almost in two, do not continue to stall your recovery." He ignored her.

"Was the Nintoujou destroyed along with Jaken?"

"No. It has been brought to your bedside." He reduced his growl to something deep and rumbling in his chest, not the loud, throaty noise he had been maintaining all this time. "Once you are released, what will you do?" He would call for war. He was the Dog General, Lord Sesshoumaru of the Western Lands. If Ryokijin wanted to wipe the mind and control the talons of every bird and flying creature, then Sesshoumaru would summon every mutt and hound to counter them. Only _he_ could summon them. "What else can be done?"

"Confirm where Kagura has been taken, and locate Tenseiga. Monitor the movements of the Phoenix Tribe so that none can escape." Because once Sesshoumaru was freed from this prison, no fire bird would be left living on these islands. He would destroy them down to the last wing and feather; his father had expelled the Panther tribe, Sesshoumaru would annihilate the Phoenixes.

For a few brief moments, Kanna's presence in the fog vanished, leaving him there to just growl and struggle with reduced intensity. Things were happening beyond the scope of the mirror, so maybe that was enough to control his temper. It would not hold him for long, but it was something.

When she returned:

"Kohaku has been sent."

Good.

* * *

><p><strong>Sukoru: It means "Squall" in Japanese, and his appearance is based off the Wikipedia image of Fujin. I finally decided to give the green ogre-man a name, even if he's still completely trivial. :D<strong>

**Anba-hane: Amber Wing, because writing from Ryokijin's POV required making up details like his weapon's name. Don't quote me on the grammar though, I'm just using an online translator.**


	25. III: In Chains

**Darkness of the Unknown, To Glory, Brothers in Arms, The Chosen Ones.**

**This chapter is a short break from the plot to just highlight the effect of last chapter on the rest of the cast. I think it goes together better than chapter 24 did.**

**And frickin' hell, 4th year English is intense. I barely remember to make my updates here, I haven't had a chance to even TOUCH chapter 27 yet... **

* * *

><p><em><strong>To Make Things Right<strong>_

In Chains

Damn it.

"_Kohaku!" _He failed, that was all Kohaku could think of as he braced himself on one knee, the ground smouldering and the air filled with smoke from the fight he'd just lost. The woods surrounding the highland rise were on fire, their red light spilling like blood in the night. The heavy scent of char and smoke made it a bit hard to breathe, but the sore pain of his slashed forearm was worse.

"_Uncle!_" Not looking around from where he'd dropped his kusarigama, Kohaku managed to lift his eyes to the blackened cave resting in the cliff just over-head. The hovel was still gushing smoke, the weapon in front of the Slayer still resonating with anger and vengeance over the destruction of its unformed siblings inside. The heat and intensity of the Phoenix Fire had destroyed all of Totosai's enduring projects.

Kohaku had been sent by Lord Sesshoumaru to collect Totosai, and he'd failed. The Swordsmith wasn't dead, but he'd been taken away by the group of fire-birds who had beaten Kohaku to the cliff. Just because he hadn't actually _seen _Sesshoumaru before receiving the order from one of the palace servants didn't mean he felt any better about having failed.

"..._Damn it._" He hadn't been there to help Lady Kagura during the attack, and now he'd failed to protect Master Totosai.

"Kohaku!"

Standing up and cradling his wounded arm against his side, Kohaku picked up his weapon and turned to face the voices calling him. Kirara had reverted down to her smaller form, sensing no more danger as the fires would burn themselves out around them soon. The kitten bounced on her black paws and cooed at the sight of Miroku running up through the darkness, his three eldest children following close on his heels: the twins and Kohaku's nephew, Mushin. The young monk reached him first, one hand extended towards the wound dripping blood onto the ground.

"Uncle, you're hurt..." Mushin looked a lot like his mother.

"I'll be fine." He couldn't look at them, it wasn't what he wanted right now. To vanish from family and friends for three years only to reappear in the wake of phoenix fire and destruction, it was not what Kohaku could have hoped for. "Kirara, let's go."

"Kohaku no." Miroku was close enough now to state the words firmly, the fire-cat at the Slayer's feet cooing again as if asking whether or not he was sure. "Come back to the village and let us take care of your wound. Tell us what's going on."

"I can't, I have to report back."

"Back where, Uncle?" He looked to his nieces, both girls were dressed in the white and red of shrine-maidens, but even in the darkness and light of the calming fires he could see the protective arm-bands of their armour peeking out from under their sleeves. "Please come with us!"

"Kohaku, all of the village dogs have gone wild. Even Inuyasha's household was filled with chaos when we went there- and now this?" Now the fires. It must have been a terrible sight from the village, watching the flames rise up into the black sky. Miroku's face was grim, his dark eyes set firmly on Kohaku as the Slayer couldn't decide whether to go or stay. He had to report back with what had happened to the sword smith.

"Lord Sesshoumaru has declared war." He stated, not sure why he regretted the words so much, but they passed. "He's begun calling demons to him to help destroy the Phoenix clan."

"So those _were _fire-birds! I thought they were all defeated after-?"

"I have to go." Cutting off Mushin's exclamation, Kirara gave a soft growl and then ducked her head a little, her tiny body tensing up before a cyclone of fire ripped up over her body. There was no need to fear being burned by the crimson flames as they vanished, Kirara's yoki was something she knew how to control perfectly and keep from harming the friends around her.

"_Kohaku!_" No, he was leaving. Climbing quickly onto Kirara's back, the two-tailed cat leapt up into the air and circled tightly around, right over-head so he could answer Miroku.

"Tomorrow at dawn Lord Sesshoumaru will begin summoning a great army. If you want to join him, then bring your warriors to _Katanakaji_ volcano! That's where the Phoenix Lord and his people have hidden themselves- it's where they've taken Master Totosai so they can force him to forge a weapon of power for Ryokijin." A weapon reforged from Tenseiga, that was the fear Kohaku had expressed to Kanna when he arrived at the palace and had heard of the sword's disappearance. He didn't know why he hadn't seen Sesshoumaru when he was there, but if the General had been injured in the attack on his home then it was better that he'd rested these past four days.

Tomorrow the war would become real. The fires that had crept across so much land would start up again and every beast would begin fighting one another for supremacy and survival. Lord Sesshoumaru had neither called on nor accepted help from others when he reclaimed the Western Lands the first time, but this time things would end much faster. The violence would be condensed down to two massive bodies out to annihilate one another, and the landscape surrounding the battle would be forever altered in the memory of it.

Wheeling Kirara around one more time through the smoke, he saw Miroku's face and understood what his brother-in-law was going to say before the words even left the monk's mouth.

"What about you!" Kohaku was human, he didn't have a place in this war. He wasn't drawn to the yoki of either Demon Lord, he wasn't even expected to survive if he showed up on the side of the volcano. But that didn't matter. The last time a single demon had been responsible for this much chaos and death, it had taken efforts from every powerful or simply note-worthy demon in the land to bring Naraku down.

"I fight for the Lady of the West, Miroku- I choose this!" He would help slay Ryokijin. It was his duty as a Demon Slayer, it was his life and honour and purpose all combined together.

He would not fail.

* * *

><p>It was a shiver down the spine that hung on and coiled around the legs, a howl in the wind that wouldn't fade even hours after it had ended. The dawn was still bright in the east, the sky clear as the air rippled, distant sounds and familiar scents mingling to deliver the message.<p>

It wasn't a polite request, the Dog General was down right insulting in his volume and tone, but that was the point. Lord Sesshoumaru of the West wasn't _asking_ for help, he was demanding that any mutt worth his own fangs get their shit together and run with him. Dogs, wolves, foxes, raccoons, he didn't give a damn who came and who stuck their head in the ground pretending there was nothing going on. Koga wouldn't admit it, but he kinda liked that attitude.

You heard stories of the Old General, the one who sealed the Dragon Ryukotsusei, the one who repelled the Panther Devas the first time they attacked, the one who slew the Moth King Hyoga. When Koga'd been a pup those stories had circulated constantly about the mighty _Inu no Taishou_, with pains taken to differentiate between him and his successor in the West. It hadn't been until the return of the Panther Demons that Koga had figured out that the almighty Dog Demon had been Inuyasha's father too, but whatever. It wasn't Inu-korro giving the commands here, it was his brother.

So Sesshoumaru was the one who'd defeated that damn Fire Bird Ryokijin three years ago, eh? Well he'd sure done a crappy job of it as far as Koga was concerned. The dead don't go coming back to life, and just chasing enemies away was never good enough to kill the threat entirely. Koga would know, he'd lost enough wolves to the new Western Lord ever since Sesshoumaru returned from whatever journey he'd been on. Everyone'd been convinced the mutt was dead.

Guess being out-lived by the Half-breed would've been too much for him to bear.

"_Move faster, mutts!_" Pounding the sparse plains with his feet, wolves and demons together were spread out behind the Prince of Wolves. Two tribes had originally set off with him from the eastern mountains where they made their home, but following the resonating cry of the Dog General's summons had led them across several other wolf packs. They were even running with wild dogs now, not just wolves, and as Koga peered over the next rising hill he could see a scrambling patch of orange fur and long tails: foxes.

"_Koga!"_ What the hell? Letting the winds around him dissipate, Koga slowed down enough to give his companions the time to start catching up, snarling over his shoulder and making a bold motion with his arm so they understood that they weren't going to stop here. The Dog General wanted them to attack the Phoenix's volcano to the north-west, the high eastern corner of Sesshoumaru's own territories, and they were damned-well gonna get there in time for the fight.

"Kid, what the hell're you doing here?" Shippo, the orange-haired fox demon who'd always travelled with Kagome and Dog-breath. Twenty years isn't that long, especially for a kitsune. Shippo was barely up to Koga's hip as the wolf stopped, the fox waving his friends on as they melded in with the running wolves, yips and barks rippling through the legion of fur and fangs.

"I was summoned!" Shippo hadn't changed his appearance too much in the last decade, the young fox wearing the same blue, yellow and orange outfit of years before, just modified to accommodate slightly longer limbs. With his green eyes and bushy tail, there was nothing intimidating about the kit, and his declaration just sounded stupid.

"You don't even have your second tail yet!" He sniped, prepared to give the kit a good kick to the back of the head and send him away. "Go home before I get crap from Kagome about letting a kid like you go to war." Shippo just bared his teeth at him, Koga prepared to ignore him when he saw the erratic twitch in the fox's tail.

"Hey! I've got a rank too, y'know!" Rank? And was the Dog General seriously calling on children to- "Kitsune Promotion! I'm already rank nineteen, Koga, I'm running with foxes two and three times my own age!"

_'Being skilled at illusions doesn't mean he can just go off and-'_ Hey!

A cloud of grey smoke swallowed the fox-child in front of him, and a moment later Koga was looking at his own backside as Shippo turned and bolted away into the pack. The wolf prince took off after him, barking at other running mutts to get out of his way, but even as a whirlwind grew out from around his fast-moving legs there was another vortex already spinning several hundred yards ahead of him. Since when had the kit had that sort of power- the kind to go and mimic another demon's abilities?

Maybe that was why Sesshoumaru of the West was calling him. But damn Koga if it still didn't reek of a bad idea. Stupid dogs, but who knew: maybe the Great General had been a selfish moron too.

* * *

><p>"They threw a child into the river every three days until the dam was built!" Oh, shut up... She didn't want to hear it anymore, she didn't want to- "They enslaved all the village men, and they torched the elders one by one as examples!"<p>

Kagura closed her eyes again in the dark, her body sore and filthy resting on her knees. Her feet had been blistered by the heat of the wall behind her, chains binding her wrists and locked around her throat, keeping her from moving inside the white cage maintained over her. Her hands were left hanging at the same height as her shoulders, the air hot and still as she just focused on breathing; tried to feel her own breath.

Domed over her head and wrapped around her chains was the faint light of a barrier, paper charms clinging to her bonds so she couldn't fade into the air and slip out of them. The priestess holding the spells in place was seated on the stone floor several feet away from Kagura in the dark. Her hands were clasped and fingers woven together around a charmed rosary. The woman's face was strained, another set of chains holding her ankles but hidden from Kagura's view where she was kneeling. Her wide red pants were burnt and torn around her legs, a sleeve of her soiled white robe missing. A prisoner to hold a prisoner, there were lines of grey feathered through the woman's black hair, strands hanging wild and unkempt around her face. If she squeezed her fingers together any tighter, they'd pop off.

"Even if you look human, even if you sound and act like a woman, you're still just another demon- another creature like those horrible birds!" Kagura didn't want to hear this anymore. When she'd first been brought down here and chained up she'd rebelled. She'd screamed for the wind to come down and cut her free, she'd demanded the world shift and the walls fall over from the furious storm of yoki she had unleashed. It hadn't worked, but Kagura hadn't given up: she'd only been quiet now for a few hours, exhausted and desperate to regain some of her strength before trying again. She would be free of this place.

The human seemed to think Kagura had given up for good, hence the lecture. Kagura didn't even have to open her eyes to hear another string of words building up in the priestess' throat, but she tried tuning it out for now:

_'Sesshoumaru._' Freedom, she needed to escape from this place, to be free once again... _'Don't be too late.'_

From the time Kagura had woken up and found herself trapped by the priestess' sutra until now, Kagura's marks and the world within her heart hadn't had any comfort to give her. Moving her mind from her real body and focusing instead on that sunlit meadow within her had left her alone. Not abandoned, but still without him. Instead- and Kagura wasn't quiet sure how real this was, she could have sworn she had seen Kanna's mirror glinting between the flowers. It hadn't made any sense to her, but any attempts to pick up the item had jarred her rudely back into her tiny prison.

The heat of this place was stifling, she couldn't stop sweating. Even when the water dripped off her nose or chin and managed to find its way to the hot stones beneath her, they just hissed and bubbled up as steam. The air was foul-smelling, both from the number of humans who had been left down here in chains with her, and from the corpses of those who had expired while waiting. There were only about three others still alive, not counting the priestess; they seemed convinced that keeping Kagura in her chains would convince the Phoenixes to let them go.

So far they had been rewarded with pithy rations and no water, and it wasn't just the heat that was killing the humans off either: it was the toxins seeping through the stones and filling the air. Whatever diseases they might pick up from the rotting flesh wouldn't kill them before the sulphur from the volcano did the job instead.

_'Ryokijin was always painted as soft-hearted, Sesshoumaru. Something's changed if he's willing to let so many be slowly gassed to death in his own house.'_

Something had changed today, because it even felt like a new day. Something had calmed Kagura and it had come in two parts: the first was how, although she still couldn't see or contact Sesshoumaru directly through that inner world, she could sense him again. It was like whenever he left on a conquest of some kind, how the meadow would grow impossibly vast in her mind's eye like it was trying to represent the physical distance between them. He was apart from her, but she could sense him again; his rage wasn't close enough for her to feel it on her skin, not strong enough to bleed into her heart, but she knew it was there.

He was out there, he was furious beyond words, and he was coming for her.

_'Us, he's coming for us.'_ And she didn't mean the priestess and her dying villagers. _'Little one, not even living yet and still ready to fight...'_ A new day outside this prison had brought back her awareness of Sesshoumaru, but it had also done something strange to her womb.

She could feel it, a restlessness, a power, a need. It wasn't quite an emotion with a name: not something like fear, or rage, or excitement. Instead, Kagura could feel all of the potential enclosed within her body, and in return her flesh stopped rebelling so harshly against her bonds; it focused internally instead. Sesshoumaru's child was barely alive, hardly real, but it was already willing to answer him, to return something else for his rage and pride. It just didn't know what yet, making it something for Kagura to focus on and deal with instead.

So now all she needed to do was make sure that power enclosed within her remained satiated. It was more important that _it_ be nourished by her flesh and yoki than to have Kagura waste her energy against bonds that wouldn't break. There was almost a gross satisfaction in providing for Sesshoumaru's young in the heart of Ryokijin's castle, a blatant denial of whatever suffering the Phoenix was trying to inflict on her with these chains and the woman's endless prattling. Once the priestess succumbed to the heat and toxins of this miniature hell, Kagura would be free. For this, she could be patient.

"What are you smiling for, yokai?"

"_Daiyokai_." She corrected, because patience didn't necessarily include silence. The priestess almost seemed to shake at the sound of her voice, and Kagura very slowly opened her red eyes, not bothering to lift her head more than half-way up so she could see the human's trembling hands. "I am no weak spirit, human. I've almost killed you at least four times now, and you can't even break your meditation long enough to close the eyes of your dear apprentices."

It hadn't taken just one priestess to seal Kagura's powers and put her in this wretched position, and as she spoke the _Kaze-Daiyokai _let her gaze slide over the still bodies flanking the woman. The two young girls had been struck down over the last four days, one on purpose by Kagura when she had come closest to freedom, the other had simply succumbed to the fumes hissing through the stones. Kagura hated looking at dead children, in fact she didn't like being too near the dead in general, but the priestess really was too terrified of her to unclasp her hands and close the eyes of the rotting apprentice.

Sightless dead eyes, she hated the look of them.

"For their sake, I won't allow you to break free, yokai." _Dai_yokai, was this woman deaf? Kagura felt a very small spark of power peel away from the mark on her forehead, the smallest breath of wind trying to move down over her sweating brow. It was cast down by the purifying energy arcing off her chains, an irritating effect of the spell.

"You're running out of time." It was terrible, but as much as Kagura had managed to forget of her life with Naraku, some things were simply too useful to let go of. Knowing how to terrorize others was a skill she sometimes wished would fade with time, but her sense of the woman's emotions was as strong as ever. "You're running out of people to save. What will you do when it's only you and I left, miko? Your village is all gone now, so tell me-"

"Shut up!"

"So _tell me..._" She had only waited so long to try undermining the woman because her outrage had been too strong before. It took a calm mind to read and pick apart another person, it took the self-confidence necessary to _convince_ the other person that you had all the time in the world, whereas they had none. "Did you ever send for help, Miko? Your village was over-taken by Phoenixes, not something a few priests and some prayer could fix. Did you ever search for the Demon Slayers? Did you ever-?"

"The _Taijiya_ live amongst demons, they obtain strength and abilities no normal humans could ever possess- they're no better than Half-demons, corrupted creatures with only partial-souls." Mm, well that was an interesting way of looking at things. Kagura didn't want to laugh, but she chuckled, she made the sound rise up and licked one red lip with her tongue, running the tip over one of her sharp teeth to form a false grin.

"Better to die in agony than take help from half-demons." If that was a common sentiment amongst humans, then perhaps Kohaku's decision to leave his people behind made sense. It didn't have to be true, it just had to scare people. "Did you even know who killed the Phoenix Lord the first time..?"

"The Western Demon Lord..." Very good... "Are you saying that that's where we should have gone? Surrendered our souls to some wild devil-!"

"I'm saying you should have gone, because then you would have learned how the Lord of the West doesn't care for human souls or human problems." Lifting her eyes up just enough so she could see more than the priestess's legs, Kagura didn't have to look over the woman's shoulder to know she had the attention of another human as well. A man who had knelt by his dying wife and two dead children for days now had calmed his sobbing, the woman had stopped breathing not long ago, but Kagura could now feel his attention now firmly set on her. There was one more child and two adults sitting in the dank prison, her enraptured audience.

"Then what good would there have been in going to him?" The priestess demanded, Kagura's eyes not flickering from where they'd been resting on the woman's hands still. She waited a few moments, counting idly in her head and stroking the soothing warmth in her flesh with another flare of yoki. Feed, grow, be strong.

"The good would have been that I, the wife of the Western Lord, hate each and every branch of the Phoenix Clan." Kagura let the words roll over her tongue like a warm sweet, not smiling, but purposefully planting an ounce of cruel amusement in her voice. "And the only thing my husband loves more than me is hearing any excuse to go to war."

What she was saying didn't dawn slowly on the woman listening to her. The priestess wasn't stupid, she may have taken care of and lived within a small village, but she was no fool. The implications were obvious, and before the woman's black eyes could turn from muted horror to affronted anger, another voice broke in.

"Lady Koyumi." A more important voice than Kagura's, because she was still, after-all, just a demon. Watching the priestess' back stiffen as her fellow human called her name was far more rewarding than having Kagura continue to taunt her. She'd said enough.

"Ganju-"

"Is it true?" The priestess couldn't move without releasing the spell on Kagura, or at least not without drastically weakening it. "She's his wife?" Lowering her head back down the way it had been before, Kagura kept her face from smiling but didn't find the demand taxing. It was harder to feel good about using Naraku's style of manipulation than it was to actually use it. But she had to be free.

"Ganju, demons don't marry the way humans do, they-" Hmph. Kagura kept silent, but she stiffened her jaw instead and listened for the sound of the man rising up for the first time in days. She didn't need to see the sores that had opened on his legs from kneeling in filth, or the sickly palour of his face from bathing in toxins. The stench was enough to paint the picture, and in the unrelenting heat and still here there was nothing to mitigate the effects.

"Is he coming for you?"

"Ganju!"

"_Shut up!_ Is the Western Lord coming for you or not, _Kaze-Daiyokai?_" Oh, so that question hadn't been meant for the priestess. Kagura closed her eyes again, remembering the feel of the wind across her face, imagining herself walking at peace through her flowers.

"Of course he is..."

"Lady Koyumi, when he gets here and he sees what you're doing to her he-"

"Ganju stop. If I let her go they'll kill us-"

"_We are already dead!_" Kagura flinched- if only the fool could keep his voice down. She refused to look up through the dark and find the narrow stairs that led into the rest of the castle. If a guard heard them yelling then Kagura would need the human to move faster. He didn't have to kill the woman, just strike her down, just do something to shatter what was left of her concentration.

_'I will be **free.**'_ Sesshoumaru would have his war, but Kagura would not just sit here complacently and wait to be rescued. _'I will be free, and I will watch Ryokijin die for real this time. Let me **out** of here!'_

Kagura saw light flare at the top of the stairs and she instantly knew it wasn't meant to be. The human lunged at the priestess and the spell wavered dramatically- but before Kagura could force her own power to rise up and shatter the barriers and charms keeping her in place the man- Ganju, fell back in a wailing heap. Light flashed over the piled corpses and the hot stones, an arrow spitting fire out of the man's chest where it had lodged itself in his heart. He was dead before the Phoenix guard even reached the floor where Kagura was still kneeling, her plan foiled and the priestess gasping and sobbing for breath. She hadn't thought it possible, but the air stank even worse now than it had a few minutes ago.

Four humans all together, now down to three.

"Up, wench. Lord Ryokijin demands to have the prisoner brought to him." The guard was speaking to the priestess, kneeling down and unlocking her chains from the wall that kept her tethered there. Kagura could only watch as the woman struggled in her own filth to rise up, her legs and feet cooking slowly through from the constant heat. The priestess was the one, key in hand, who detached Kagura's chains one by one from the wall- starting with the one that held both her throat and wrists. They didn't actually remove the manacles from her skin though, the priestess passing the heavy iron links over to the Phoenix instead.

He couldn't hold them for long though, they were too heavily charmed and once the barrier came down the woman took the two of them up again. The Phoenixes were clever and cruel about prisoners, the heavy collar around Kagura's throat had two incredibly short chains attached to the cuffs around her wrists. She could bend her shoulders, not her elbows, and the muscles were weeping from the need to move. Only one chain connected her top half to the wall. The one binding her legs was the same set-up: only a few inches of chain between her bound ankles, her knees impossible to bend so long as she was restricted by the top chains.

But Kagura was a powerful demon, her body could endure things a human could never imagine. Four days without moving left her in horrible pain, but still allowed her to rise without trembling or falling over herself. She'd seen it enough times with Sesshoumaru to know how it was done; you simply commanded your body to move, and then moved, fortifying limbs and joins with yoki was only necessary when you really _couldn't_ do it on your own. She spared some energy for herself now, but with the purifying energy still lancing through the chains like an electric current, the effects weren't as strong as she could have liked. The barrier was re-established before Kagura was even all the way up-right.

"Walk." So she did. And the human woman wept silently behind her.

* * *

><p><strong>How <em>do<em> you hold onto a creature that can instantly turn itself into thin air? T'was the best I could come up with, really. Lemme know what you thought in your reviews!**


	26. III: Tenseiga, the Sinning Blade

**The Chosen Ones, To Glory, Not Strong Enough, Brothers in Arms, Divinus Consensio, The Divine Truth.**

**Oh snap! An update! Definitely haven't forgotten about this story, I'm just fighting my way through fourth year and it's waaaay harder than I thought it would be. Details on my profile.**

**Next chapter is about half finished, I have a war to worry about writing however and bleh, it's tough to find the time and inspiration to get a big scene like that put together. Of course, it WILL happen, there's just no sense in me holding off on posting this chapter since it's done and isn't doing any good sitting on my hard drive. Once I get 27 finished I'll post that up too. I need a good strong dose of inspiration before I'll be able to start churning out chapters the way I was during the summer, so until that happens updates will be sporadic at best.**

**But at least you have this, so happy reading!**

* * *

><p><em><strong>To Make Things Right<strong>_

Tenseiga, the Sinning Blade

"You serve me now."

"Ha?"

Sesshoumaru was not going to repeat himself. The young fox who had joined the running pack had not grabbed his attention immediately, not with everything else going on, but as the hours passed by this one, Shippo, had begun acting strangely. The kit could not take his eyes off the Staff of Two Heads.

The kit was quiet amongst the others and despite his youth he betrayed no anxiety over the feral environment. He was fast enough to keep up with Sesshoumaru when the Dog General transformed and sped away, and wise enough to remain back and not place himself underfoot when different members of the pack became violent and had to either be killed or separated. The bloodshed depended solely on how lenient Sesshoumaru felt when he was forced to turn from the head of the party to deal with such issues. He would not, under any circumstances, tolerate this army slowing down for a single distraction.

Years ago Shippo had travelled with Inuyasha and his human friends, but even when Sesshoumaru made it clear that he was aware of the kit following him, the fox child never called on his experiences with the half-breed to try and make the Demon Lord more tolerant. He possessed some sort of demonic ranking, weak as he was, therefore the fox had his own powers. His reaction to Kanna's presence was also far more tame than that of the Wolf Prince Koga: the fox was willing to sniff first and wait for answers, a skill not even Jaken had possessed.

And he, like the imp before him, could not take his eyes off the Staff of Two Heads. Sesshoumaru only had to place the staff in the kit's hands before the ancient rod woke up and accepted him as a proper master- although it would take him time to properly learn how to wield the staff.

"H-hey! Lord Sesshoumaru wait for me!" No. Keep up or stay behind, pup.

* * *

><p>"It can't be done."<p>

"You will make it happen."

Almost three hundred years ago, Totosai forged a sword of great power at the request of one of his oldest friends. Tetseiga was his masterwork, his greatest accomplishment and a momento intended from its conception to end up in the hands of the Great Dog General's half-human son. Of course, even the grandest designs couldn't account for the sheer stupidity of the boy, so melding one of Inuyasha's fangs into Tetseiga, despite not weakening the blade, had still changed its character.

Still, even without Inuyasha's direct influences over the sword, Tetseiga had always been very different in nature from its younger brother: Tenseiga. The cast-off piece of the cutting sword had breached the gap between worlds. This power had been the direct result of both the Meido Zangetsuha technique Tenseiga had been created to hold, and the sense of loss, the moment of grief, and the realization of an end that had marked the first instants of Tenseiga's consciousness. It was a cast-off, a piece rejected and processed into a form which ironized its purpose: a sword that could not cut, only cure.

"The Tenseiga is a fully matured blade, you cannot just expect it to-"

"I expect what I expect, and if you cannot reforge this cursed blade then I'll just have to find someone who will."

For all intents and purposes, Tenseiga matured far faster than Tetseiga. It had to. To cope with its own existence the sword had to understand that the reasons for its creation were not paramount, but rather the potential it had for great power. When the Great General drew Tenseiga for the first time, he fully expected a Meido Zangetsuha like what his younger son would accomplish over two hundred years later, and instead he received nothing but a slight whooping sound as the steel was buffered by the air.

By the time Sesshoumaru's father perished, Tenseiga had fought for and earned not only its master's respect, but had arguably wrestled his true love away from Tetseiga. It was Tenseiga that revived Izayoi on the night the Great General died. It was Tenseiga, though Inukimi would never admit it, that had spared her life when neither her son nor her mate had been present to aid her in battle. Not even Sesshoumaru knew that story, and so long as Inukimi lived he sure as hell wasn't going to hear about it from Totosai or Myoga. Why else would she have wanted to know whether or not Kagura could gain Tenseiga's trust?

Tetseiga was created _for_ a purpose, and had to learn to grow beyond being just a sword meant for cutting. But Tenseiga was the sword that had grown in order to _define_ its own purpose.

To try and change that now, no. Totosai would not do it.

He'd been rustled up in the middle of the night, woken up to a dozen or more demons wreathed in fire as they tore up his workshop and home of fifteen years. They'd broken his swords and shattered the stone where he did his forging, blasting out the wall of his cave and bringing water raining in from the small river that fed the falls below. Totosai had only managed to bash one of their screaming hides into the churning pool before the others were on him in a heap.

Somewhere in the chaos the old demon had heard the familiar whip and zing of a weapon forged by his hands. He'd felt the animosity travel the length of the kusarigama's cutting edge and resonate through its snaking chain. Totosai hadn't been able to see either Kohaku or Kirara before his world faded to black and he was carried away, but he knew they had been there. He'd woken up here and could only kneel on the floor as he was, hoping the pair had survived the night.

_'They redecorated. I think I hate them.'_ Of all the ways Totosai had imagined, sometimes even _dreamed_ of returning to his volcano after all these years, being dragged through an elaborate castle floating over the semi-solid magma had never occurred to him.

Phoenixes liked places that were hot, they were immune to fire to the point that they thrived off of it. Totosai had lost his volcano very, very early into the invasion of the Western Lands, running away perhaps only a few days after Inukimi began her own rampage. It was impossible to escape the heat when you were anyplace near the volcano's top, but with so much wood and too many bodies around, the searing intensity had been relegated to a sweaty dampness. There was too much humidity, they'd changed and completely ruined the entire environment. No fool could forge a sword under these conditions, at least not like the ones Totosai had crafted before.

He was kneeling down and flanked by two Phoenix guards, several soldiers lining the long chamber that spoke too much like a throne-room. Wealth like the gold-detailed throne holding the seated Phoenix Lord was simple to come by if you had a large enough clan and a large human population to prey upon. The real wealth of the palace would have to be the several ornately painted sliding doors that had been opened to present Totosai to the war-lord.

Being able to create fire from paint, to imitate the movement of feathers, and capture the moment of activity on canvas was a true skill. All of the scenes depicted were done in hot colours; all shades of red, orange, and yellow. Accents of goldenrod, amber, and the occasional whispers of jade and lapis made the difference though, the details ready to leap off the screens and prance across the gold-woven floor.

If he could have had it his way, Totosai would have much preferred to just look at the paintings all day rather than listen to the Phoenix Lord command him to do something he would not accept. If the swordsmith was going to die in this chamber, then he'd do so as he was right now: seated properly and with his head held high.

Tenseiga seemed to acknowledge this. He may not have created it knowing what it would turn out to be, but that did not mean Totosai didn't feel an overwhelming rush of pride in hearing how his creation wouldn't bend to an unworthy master.

"Tenseiga was forged from the fang of your enemy's father. What makes you think it can simply be reforged to obey you?" It was hard to keep his eyes on Ryokijin instead of the sword the bird was holding in his hand. In the orange lamp-light the Phoenix's bronze skin was glowing, his arms slung over the sides of his throne and one sandal-wearing foot propped up on the table Totosai imagined was holding sets of maps. There were so many western flares in this room.

Still, the lack of respect Ryokijin paid Tenseiga spoke for itself and explained the Phoenix's every problem. He had the sheathed blade in his hand below the medallion, rolling it casually in his hand and giving the sense that he was about to drop the weapon to the floor. It was a testament to Tenseiga's great patience that it hadn't simply jumped from his grasp in order to be done with the taunting. The blade regarded the Demon Lord with such contempt Totosai could almost hear the spirit whispering dirty things about Ryokijin in the air.

Even if it hadn't been Touga's fang, no weapon of Totosai's make would ever tolerate such a handler, unless specifically designed to punch through his arrogance.

"Then just destroy the sheathe." What? Totosai watched as the Phoenix Lord pulled his foot down and stood up properly, waving Tenseiga about like an old man's cane before giving the sword a haphazard toss in the smith's direction. The old demon almost threw out his back diving forward to catch Tenseiga before the blade could strike the floor and rattle about, getting his old clawed hands around the familiar black wood. The sword's outrage was an audible hum behind the spelled varnish, the hilt pulsing rapidly like a heartbeat without Totosai even reaching for the binding. "Give that wretched thing no more place to hide. I want to see the edge that slaughtered so many of my kinsmen." Kinsmen?

_'Oh, Tenseiga... So that's how Sesshoumaru was able to single-handedly repel the Phoenix Tribe when no one else could. You retained the Wind God's blessing after-all...'_ The power to sever a spirit's everlasting connection to the world of the living. Tenseiga could rob any immortal soul of its undying nature, thrusting the victim headlong into the after-life.

"This sheathe isn't made of just any wood, y'know..." He stated, giving the irritated Demon Lord a blank stare as he pried his gaze up from the sword's irate hilt. "Tenseiga can survive even the most devastating demonic attacks thanks to this case, there's not much a smith like me can do to it." Well, nothing except...

"Bring her." Her? What her? The Phoenix Lord was pacing angrily, his sandals clacking across the floor as his crimson hair followed him like a lashing tail. Totosai didn't understand the Phoenix's command to his soldiers, but he wasn't a complete simpleton either. He could easily see himself running out of value in the bird's eyes: if he couldn't do _anything_ at all, then they would kill him. And just because he wouldn't do anything didn't meant Totosai couldn't pretend otherwise.

Placing his hand over Tenseiga's hilt, the sword calmed and presented itself to him, a spirit he had watched through birth, youth, and maturity filling his mind's eye as they shared, briefly, Totosai's thoughts on the matter. To him, Tenseiga was so often imagined as the Great General who had commissioned it, with his long silver hair and dark skin, the mantle of his fur draped down his back to drag behind him on the ground as he walked. Tenseiga was the General at his most deliberative moments: his silences and pauses, the moments where there was no question of what was important, simply how to accomplish it.

Tenseiga assented to him, and Totosai smoothly drew the sword half-way from its sheathe. They both agreed that no, he couldn't hope to drive the Healing Blade through Ryokijin's heart and manage, if nothing else, to cut that immortal band tying the Phoenix to the living world. It would have been a worthwhile final act, and would protect Tenseiga from any forced meddling on Totosai's part, but no, it simply wouldn't work.

Instead he drew the sword almost all the way out, just to remind Ryokijin that he had that ability. Tenseiga could be a sword in Totosai's grasp, in the hands of the Phoenix Lord it was about as useful as a big stick.

"If you truly wish to wield Tenseiga, Lord Ryokijin, there is... one, way." Tenseiga was willing to give up its bindings and hilt, the sword would surrender its sheath if need be, but they would have to be quiet, be careful. Only in Totosai's capable hands would the brother of his masterwork surrender to the pains of being dismantled and passed off as a broken scrap. Only if he swore upon his own life and soul to restore Tenseiga properly before permitting even its haughty master to see it again, then yes. Tenseiga would do anything to return to Sesshoumaru's side, or barring him then lie in wait for his- his _what?_

"And what is that?" What was what? Wait, nevermind, Totosai remembered. He slid Tenseiga back into its sheath and blinked a few times up at the Phoenix, shaken by what he had just learned, but not sure what to make of it. This was not a good time for Sesshoumaru's woman to be with child, but at least that meant she'd be taken care of.

"Uuh..." What had he and Tenseiga just discussed? Right! "Talons. If I coat Tenseiga with an alloy made from your talons, and break and reforge the blade enough times with your essence added to it, then, with time, it may be done." A sword made of Phoenix talons, rendered in Tenseiga's image to break the ego of the Demon Lord in front of him. A blade that would fight him every step of the way down his road to vengeance.

He mourned his dead as if he hadn't been the one to bring the Phoenixes into the Western Lands, into the wars that had swept Sesshoumaru's lands. It was alright to mourn the fallen, but for a Demon Lord, especially a Dog Demon Lord, Sesshoumaru had not been excessive. After Ryokijin had died he had gone on to rid the majority of the Western Lands of any lingering tribes of fire-birds, but he had never pursued them beyond his territorial lines. Sesshoumaru had not relentlessly tracked and hunted down every single one of Ryokijin's scattered people, he hadn't found it worth the time, the effort, or the blood to go after them all. It was the next best thing to Demonic law; when you found a territory you wanted, you chased off anybody else who could pose a threat. Genocide was not required.

"A moment ago you said there was nothing that could be done." The pacing had stopped, Ryokijin's blue eyes landing squarely on the smith and causing Totosai's thoughts to scatter. Not his convictions, just his thoughts. "Why the change of heart, old man?"

"Do you think I like the idea of carving apart one of my greatest creations?" The fire bird approached him and Totosai lifted Tenseiga like it could offer some defence, but instead the Healing blade was just twisted out of his grasp. The old demon felt heat build in his gut and come running up his throat; a gout of flame ready to sear out over his tongue when Ryokijin hoisted his arm up and cracked Tenseiga down over his skull.

Totosai's vision exploded with little stars, the force of the blow causing his knees to drop and send him onto his hands rather than the floor. The fire was reduced to a sickly-sweet smoke that dribbled through the gaps in his teeth. Tenseiga gave a sharp cry of outrage, the sword's reaction carrying muted shock beneath the indignation. It was not a sword meant to harm beings in this world.

"Lord Ryokijin." Whatever the Phoenix had wanted to say to Totosai, it was interrupted as another fire bird entered the throne room. "She's here."

_'Tenseiga?'_ What on earth was going on? The pain from his bashed head was already going away, the lump that had formed easing away into his wrinkled scalp- Totosai may have been old but he was still a demon. _'Why do you sound so strange?'_ The blade had been arrogantly insulting its wielder, now it was quiet and giving off only the faintest murmur, the shock it had experienced quickly gaining ground, blossoming into proper fear.

Ryokijin was looking at the sword, then his blue eyes came down on Totosai again before he nodded to someone the smith couldn't see. Two pairs of strong arms came and grabbed him, the old demon kicking and hissing under his breath until he was over-powered and forced to remain on his knees, arms bent back painfully so he couldn't use them. Ryokijin turned away from him and Totosai finally looked at who had been brought in.

_'Kagura-?'_ Sesshoumaru's wi-? _'No!_'

She was bound in chains marked with scraps of paper, and a human priestess who stank of death was following weakly behind the bound demoness. Despite who was wearing the chains and who was holding them, Sesshoumaru's mate still looked far better off than the flagging human. Her wrists were hanging at the same height as her shoulders, the links of her chains too short to afford Kagura a proper stride. There was blood and filth all over the high-collared white gown she was wearing, the belt tied off to her side and firm, but it was clear that she was under-dressed. Her hair was loose down her back, a few red-black locks dangling down over her disdainful face.

She looked filthy, but as the fire-light played off the pink mark on her forehead and reflected off the silver shine in her crimson eyes, Lady Kagura of the West looked unperturbed. Totosai almost thought she looked critical of the Phoenix Lord, the woman pulling a face that clearly asked what Ryokijin wanted with her, and stated that she was very, very bored.

This would not end well.

"Release her hands, but hold her arms." The command seemed to be two-fold: the human priestess did something with the chains that caused the paper seals to flag and fall off the metal links Ryokijin mentioned. The barrier around the wind demon also faltered, allowing two of the present fire birds to step forward and break the iron bonds. Still, it was only the length of chain between her throat and wrists that were snapped, the manacles remaining in place around the Lady's thin wrists.

Totosai's eyes were drawn over to Tenseiga as Kagura made a sharp, muffled comment. The guards who had stepped up to her each got a firm hold around her arms above the manacles, the pair liberal with their talons as the sharp claws pierced the woman's skin. Tenseiga was silent, but tense as thin rivulets of blood skated down Kagura's arms from the wounds, the hold meant to keep her from fighting back too vigorously. The sword was keeping itself from reacting openly- was Ryokijin competent enough to sense it when the weapon pulsed and thrashed about in its way?

This had to stop, Totosai didn't need to know what exactly was going on, but Tenseiga's fear was growing. It was a dog's fang, it would rather internalize every anxiety and put on a brave face than whimper and cower for leniency- but that would only work for so long. It was afraid, and that fear was intimately connected with the woman struggling in front of it. Kagura's guards mimicked each other and applied pressure behind her shoulders, the _Daiyokai_ resisting the more they hampered her movements. By holding her arms behind her and pressing down on her back, it looked like they were trying to get her to bow.

"You still won't give in." The Phoenix Lord hefted Tenseiga in his grasp, Totosai drawing in a deep breath and puffing out his cheeks. A fierce burn deep in his gut welled up and surged along his throat- and then a taloned hand closed tightly over his nose and mouth, smothering the flames before the swordsmith could summon them for a distraction. Ryokijin didn't even acknowledge his struggling and if Kagura noticed, Naraku's incarnation gave no sign of it. Totosai could only double over the rest of the way and choke on the painful backlash, steam and smoke rolling off his tongue as the hand was removed and he was allowed to try breathing through the self-inflicted smog.

He missed whatever Kagura said, but her voice sounded arrogant, almost taunting.

"Swordsmith." No, Totosai coughed once and shook his head at the floor, refusing to answer even when one of the demons holding him grabbed the tail of his hair. He winced as the white hairs were yanked, but just shut his large eyes and didn't let himself look at the pregnant demoness or the flailing sword. "You said that breaking Tenseiga would be necessary to reforge it."

"You can't reforge a mature sword." At any other time Totosai would have nodded and agreed openly with Kagura's observation. He would have encouraged her comment and goaded their captor with her. But he couldn't right now, because he felt Tenseiga's reaction along his skin and couldn't stand to watch as the sheathed blade was hefted up and cracked down sharply over the woman's shoulder.

He heard her feet stagger after the blow connected, heard a muted gasp as the pain registered and the woman snapped back with a few sharp, slurred words, but Totosai refused to look. He jerked his shoulders roughly and tried to break free of the hands holding him, forced another dose of heat and acid up his throat and managed to blow it across the foot of one of his bondsmen, but it didn't do any good. Totosai was punished with a knee slamming into the side of his face and heard Tenseiga rattle in its sheathe before the black handle collided with Kagura's body again.

"It refuses to cut, but it can still harm..." It was sick and perverse and it was wrong. It was _not _what Tenseiga was meant for! "Hold her straight, she still reeks of that murdering dog." Tenseiga rattled again and Totosai made himself look at the sword, saw where it was being held by the sheathe in front of Ryokijin, Kagura stomping one bare foot down on the tatami floor and struggling to double-over. Instead, the demoness was forced with both arms twisted behind her back to stand straight, the fire birds holding her set on their task. The two, almost, seemed pleased with what was happening.

"Fly, Tenseiga!" Go, stupid sword! Totosai shouted the words and watched Tenseiga rattle again in its sheath, the blade struggling between the impulse to flee its sheath and the instincts which drove it further into the black wood. "Don't let that sinner hold you! _Fly!_"

"_Silence, old man!_" Ryokijin moved like a blur, his hands holding Tenseiga by both sheathe and hilt now, keeping the thrashing sword from breaking free as a gust of wind from the restrained demoness blasted through the room. Totosai saw the Phoenix Lord's eyes flash a murderous blue, cold light searing across the floor followed by the chaotic red of his aura.

Kagura screamed but Totosai didn't get to see what happened. He saw the fire erupt off Ryokijin's arms and back and surge towards him, but his guards didn't fear the fire and refused to let him get out of the way. Tenseiga was screaming in horror as fire tore up the smith's body and filled his face with crimson agony- the blade going wild before Totosai felt a terrible pain. He felt the pressure of the sword's hilt digging into his skull, fire and force tearing flesh and forcing a path around his eye- _through _his eye.

Sight and sense failed him. All that was left was terrible pain, consuming heat, and resounding chaos before darkness washed over everything.

* * *

><p><strong>Because of pacing issues I went on about Tetseiga in this chapter because pacing issues. What can I say, I like the swords. And we've all heard again and again that Tenseiga cannot CUT, but that doesn't mean you can't take the wooden sheathe and beat someone with it. Bwahaha...<strong>

**No idea when I'll be able to finish 27. I'm currently stalled right in the middle of some dialogue, so I simply need Sesshoumaru to just start snarling and growling to get it done. 28 will be bloody, yay!**

**Now if you'll excuse me, I have two papers to write for Monday.**


	27. III: Last Call

**Started with: The Divine Truth (Track 11), Emil / Karma, My Two Steps From Hell playlist, The Chosen Ones, Falling.**

**Came back using: Under The Sun, With You, Not Strong Enough, Kuon No Kawa.**

**Because_ Restoring the Wind_ remains so popular I decided to go along with the content of this chapter. It was annoying but I think when it's finished I'll look back on the inclusion and be pleased.**

**And I've only ever broken the 100-review mark once before so I'm extremely excited about doing it a second time! Fingers crossed!**

* * *

><p><em><strong>To Make Things Right<strong>_

Call to Arms

He'd beaten her.

He'd hit her with Tenseiga, and he'd done it again, and again, and again.

He'd beaten her baby right out of her. He'd known it was there, he'd known Sesshoumaru's child was sleeping in her womb.

So he'd beaten her.

So did that mean he'd... beaten her? Was this it? Had she lost? Was she finished, done, no more? She wasn't dead, he hadn't killed her.

Not like the swordsmith, but maybe he was still alive. Covered in char and missing one eye, but not dead. Maybe. Or he'd died like that, and Tenseiga had two souls hanging off its bloody edge now.

Kagura had never heard Tenseiga make a noise before. It was a sword. It could inflect but not actually speak. It was a demon's fang, it worked like steel but cut like something divine. Tenseiga had a spirit but that didn't make it a person. She'd never heard it make noise before. That terrible resonance muffled by the sword's sheathe had rattled the Phoenix Lord's arm until he cast it down for silence.

She didn't know what that sound had been, after the pain ripped and tore through her insides, after she felt herself being burned by her own aura and her body fought to preserve itself. Blood had spilled down from between her legs, but that had just been the start. The fresh blood was just a preview of what came after, when she was dragged back into that crypt with the dead humans, when she was left in the dark, in her chains, with a human woman who couldn't stop crying.

Ryokijin didn't have to cut her with his claws, or stab her with a knife, he'd just beaten her with Tenseiga and then locked her back down in that hot, airless, lifeless tomb beneath his castle.

The priestess took her own life, somehow. Kagura had to just lay there, watching, but not seeing anything.

Her body emptied itself of her child, of that life she'd so defiantly thought she could protect. And Kagura had to just lay there, hurting, and unable to do anything to stop it.

Sesshoumaru, hundreds of miles away, closed his heart off to her. And Kagura had to just lay there, alone, unable to figure out what to do next.

* * *

><p>Sesshoumaru could not afford to waste time waiting for every mutt and cur in the islands to arrive. He gave them from the moment he let loose the call until the Phoenix Clan's volcanic home came into view over the horizon to appear and join the massive pack. If they were too slow or just too late then that was their shame to bear, not his.<p>

He needed them because Sesshoumaru knew he could never afford a repeat of what had happened that night. He could not be surrounded on all sides and interrupted from every angle, especially not when he knew his body had not completely recovered. With Tenseiga at his side and in his hands, then at least he could use it paired with Bakusaiga to cull the numbers, but not short-handed like this, not wounded like this. He needed hounds who could take down birds, and he needed demons who could tangle with the phoenixes, he needed numbers to kill and maim and match Ryokijin's until both sides were left too exhausted to continue fighting.

Inukimi was waiting for him as he moved east. His mother formed out of the dawn light on the second day after he called the army together, since he'd summoned them. She was standing in her true form on a dew-laden field, the dawn mists curling around her white legs as she opened her mouth and barked at him, snarling as she snapped her tail and looked behind her at the other demons resting with her. Among the wolves and foxes she'd brought was a Dog Demon Lord Sesshoumaru did not know. It was a male whose scent was unfamiliar to him, but whom he soon learned hailed from the north and had come to pay a debt to Sesshoumaru's mother.

So be it. His response before learning any of this had been to attack the she-mutt for daring to cross into his territory. Inukimi hadn't resisted, she'd let him throw her to the ground and pin her with both paws, his fangs exposed over her throat as his rage pouring out of his chest. She would not undermine him, she would not interfere with his decisions. She had mated the Great Dog General of another age, now it was Sesshoumaru's turn- it was his _right,_ and she would know her place on his campaign.

He would not allow her presence, or that of her northern allies, to comfort him. Not until he restored what he had lost. His mother watched him closely but he refused to favour his wounded body, running ahead and exercising force in excess to keep his army under his control. The flesh along his belly and running up along his side was pink and tender under his fur, the inflamed skin visible when he stretched his body too far, the ache never leaving his muscles and the distraction repeatedly tried to steal his strength. He wouldn't allow it.

But that same morning brought a terrible pain into his heart and when it coupled with the nagging fatigue it almost knocked him clear out of the sky. Sesshoumaru had been forced to land, the kitsune- Jaken's replacement, clinging to his fur as he remained in his proper form and howled at the collected hounds to keep going. The mark coiled around his front bicep had radiated pain, the meadow in his mind's eye coming brilliantly to life as the wind screamed and howled in his ears. He couldn't think through Kagura's horror, just forced himself to begin running again before he attacked his own allies.

He would not be overcome by her emotions. Kagura would understand why he slammed shut the door between his heart and hers; he could not be overcome by her right now. She would not die. He would not let her die.

_'Not again.'_ He would not let her die.

* * *

><p>"<em>Sesshoumaru!"<em> Noon, the same day. Kanna and Un had been flying just behind him, Kohaku and his flying cat lost somewhere in the chaos of the pack to settle another brief spat between unfriendly tribes. Hounds were meant to run in packs, but they could only be so big before it began causing problems.

Sesshoumaru didn't even have to _see_ Inuyasha to know that he couldn't tolerate any more family, but he had to. The Half-breed was not alone, and they came from the rocky cliffs bordering up from the south, waiting along the path the army was moving along. With him? His family. The priestess Kagome was at his side, as was a youth who appeared human at first glance, then revealed his diluted demonic heritage with amber eyes and rounded claws. There were more and, like with his own mother, he would have to deal with them personally.

Sesshoumaru's body rolled once as he launched himself into the air, dispelling his speed before he landed heavily on the plateau where the family had been waiting. The grey stone was dry, dusted with pebbles and sand- and ash, but Sesshoumaru refused to acknowledge that. They were coming closer to the volcano. If they ran through the night, they would be there by tomorrow.

Over the years Sesshoumaru's form had continued to grow and to increase in size: that would always be the case. So long as he could become stronger, his true form would shift to represent that growth. He was still not quite the size his father had been at his death but the difference now was far less than what it had been in Naraku's day. Even Inuyasha took a step back, an arm up and protecting the black-haired youth who now wore the Robe of the Fire Rat. Sesshoumaru watched the half-breed finger Tetseiga hesitantly at his side and drew his red lips back as a warning, growling harshly to show how little time he had to waste.

_Something_ in the last few years had caused Inuyasha to age, he looked less like a boy and more like a man, as if he had somehow managed to mature and grow into his position as a father and a leader. Without the protective robe his human mother had given him the half-breed wore a black haori, one with a white vest over his shoulders and hanging down his front as a symbol of rank. Hmph. His human wife should not have been here: Kagome was nearly forty, her blue-black hair had streaks of grey running through the waves, and her face was no longer as smooth or full as Sesshoumaru remembered. She wore her priestess robes, the red and white also repeating on the other women in the party.

_'You weak and disgusting fool, bringing your woman and daughters to this fight.'_ Two young males and three young females- an incorrect number, given their ages, and the fact that two of them didn't smell anything like the half-breed. Sesshoumaru was aware, although it irritated him that he even had to know, that Inuyasha's daughter had purified her demonic blood at a young age, she was nothing but another human standing beside her priestess mother.

With them was the human monk- the one who had been cursed with the wind-tunnel by Naraku. One of the young men had black hair and, for a moment, Sesshoumaru was confused by seeing Kohaku's face in front of him. The twin women were wearing the armour of demon slayers under their holy robes, and one of them was holding the great boomerang Hiraikotsu.

Kohaku's kin. It made sense then. The mother must have died or she was too smart to try reclaiming her youth, she wasn't here.

Looking back at the Half-breed in front of him Sesshoumaru growled again, louder this time, demanding to know why Inuyasha had bothered to disrupt him if he was just going to stand there. The terror coming off the young demon in red was not enough of a reason for Sesshoumaru to stay here, so if his father didn't come up with something to say then-

"Kagome's arrows can kill Phoenixes." The half-breed stated, glaring up at him- as if Inuyasha had a reason to feel irritation. "Miroku's daughters are trained Demon Slayers, just like their brother and uncle. And my son-"

"_I do not care!"_ To speak as a human, or a pathetic half-breed, would understand it was unnatural for this form. Sesshoumaru wasn't in the mood to comply with nature, and through the sound he bellowed down at Inuyasha, words were had. _"I called for Tetseiga, I do not care how many humans you brought with you!" _Because Tetseiga would be able to find Tenseiga in the heat of battle, one fang would resonate with the other as they had done in the past. Both swords were sentient in their own way, Tenseiga could call out to its brother regardless of what their respective masters thought of one another. _"Do not waste my time, Half-breed! Keep up or stay behind!"_

He took off into the air again, soaring over the heads of the humans and away from the half-breed's disturbed family. Sesshoumaru felt, but did not acknowledge, the twinge in his fur as Shippo let go and drifted back down to his former companions. He didn't care what the fox had to say to them, or what the decision would be. He knew that Inuyasha would stay, and thus Tetseiga would come into battle.

That was all he needed from them.

Sesshoumaru was not going to be an uncle to the half-breed's almost-human children. If he had no brother then he had no nieces or nephews.

The only person he was concerned with was his wife.

_'You will not die.'_

* * *

><p>To cross from one edge of the Western Lands to the other could take days, even when flying and moving quickly. It was that much longer when walking at a steady pace, but no one in Sesshoumaru's ranks was stupid enough to move that slowly.<p>

And not one was enough of a fool to defy him when he commanded them to continue along their course when fire filled the sky to the east. Dusk had already fallen and the sun was still sinking fast in the western sky, but the light coming from the opposite direction was still enough to raise the General's temper.

But it wasn't the same heat, not the same aura, and the wind carrying the flames didn't hold the proper scent: there was nothing actually burning in the wind, no smoke, no char, no salt. Fire in the shape of a massive bird caught his attention, but it was _not_ Ryokijin approaching from the east. All Sesshoumaru could smell was the scent of baked clay and dry air, a signature that tickled his memory but didn't give him any faces or names.

The flames soared through the young night and then dove down to the ground about a mile from the army as Sesshoumaru broke away to engage. But again, it wasn't Ryokijin: whoever it was touched down in the middle of a grassy field, but the flames never reached the ground. The heat was extinguished along with the light but the wind kept blowing, kept howling. By the time Sesshoumaru was close enough to catch sight of the lone figure standing there, the wind had begun to twist and pull him in.

The air was moving, twirling and spinning in a wide circle which covered the entire open space. Sesshoumaru's body was enveloped in light as he returned to his smaller, more compact human form. His armor settled tightly around his chest as his booted feet touched the damp grass as the sweet scent drifted into his nose. Bakusaiga was humming curiously at his side as he kept his face completely impassive, his ears catching the sound of fluttering wings and distant voices on the swiftly cooling winds. The sky was clear overhead, white stars beginning to appear through the deep blues and indigos, but the moon still hadn't risen properly over the eastern mountains.

"Fujin sends his regards, Lord Sesshoumaru." That voice. The Demon Lord stepped forward, then continued walking, watching the masculine figure in front of him kneel down so the grass surrounding them was high enough to cover his legs. Once he was within striking distance, Sesshoumaru stopped, and he tried to understand what he was looking at.

"Fujin sent you." It was a question in his mind, but Sesshoumaru refused to intone one. Not for this creature. "He rescued you."

"As mortals would understand it, we are cousins." Eyes of an unnaturally deep blue looked up at him from under a head of extremely tight curls, the colour of the former deity's hair was lost in the starlight, but those eyes held the memory of divinity and caught the weak light. "So no, he did not leave me to die on that island." The one where Sesshoumaru had left him...

"Eurus." Former god of the East Wind, the faltering deity who had unleashed the Kamikaze fifteen years ago. His immortal life had been severed by Tenseiga as punishment, a mission given to Sesshoumaru by the God of Eight Winds: Fujin. "Why are you here?" The wind picked up again as he spoke, carrying more muted voices, more distant flutters, noises even he could only half-hear in the young night.

"To help you." Help? Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed, but not dangerously. The idea was preposterous. Summoning demons to his side was a matter of right and principle, there was no reason for him _not_ to raise an army against an enemy that had already done the same. Be they Panthers or Phoenixes, the principle was the same: Sesshoumaru was matching his opponent's show of force and power, he did not require _help_.

Least of all from gods.

"Go home." The divine being who had fled from him when Sesshoumaru came to strike him down, the supposed god who couldn't even defend himself or put up a proper fight. Fujin had sent him the one who'd screamed and lost pitifully? Was this an insult from on-high? A mockery of his power, the God judging his capabilities and deeming him insufficient? Sesshoumaru would not allow _one_ upset to stain his reputation. He would bring Kagura home.

The former god was watching him, blue eyes losing the amused glint they'd held a moment before, that shy fear of what his reaction would be to the wind-user's reappearance. There was something familiar in the winds blowing around them now however, the Demon Lord taking note but deciding against remaining any longer. He would not take a slain opponent into battle with him, and turned to leave.

Once his back was turned, Sesshoumaru stopped again when he felt the wind give a forceful shove against his armoured back. He didn't stumble this time or lose his balance, a twinge running through his torso before he controlled his own pain. He had practically expected the shove and sent a sharp, dangerous look back over his shoulder. He'd been right to recognize the eager gusts and eddies around him: it was the same wind from Kagura's garden, the same wind that had warned him that night.

Why had Eurus tried to warn _him,_ and not the woman who had been in danger? It was difficult not to voice the question, but Sesshoumaru settled for seething over the words, allowing the bitterness to rise in his chest and strengthen him. Hate would make him strong, fury would make the coming battle end swiftly.

"You're too late." ...What? "You've told them, those hounds you summoned, about your stolen sword. And they know about the smith to but they don't really know what this is all about." His point? Sesshoumaru didn't walk away, in fact he moved just enough so he was half-facing the fallen god again, the wind still blowing past him, tugging on his clothes. At least the air was just an absent force, there was no mind behind it, no intention beyond simply existing around them in the darkness.

Across the field, Eurus was standing again, garbed in his native style of one long piece of cloth looped around his waist in a skirt, then up over his shoulder where it was pinned. White now, not gold. Despite the years Sesshoumaru had spent in that foreign land, he obviously hadn't had any contact with the locals. Thinking of the only person he knew who _had_ simply set the Demon Lord further on edge. Eurus, watching him, was not smiling. He looked downright grim.

But the former deity didn't say anything, and when Sesshoumaru offered nothing back the foreign being's blue eyes filled with something like wonder. Eurus raised his gold head slightly, lips hanging just-so in surprise.

"You don't care...?" The Demon Lord allowed his eyes to narrow, sharpening his gaze on the other creature. "I don't understand, Fujin warned me but I never imagined you were _this_ selfish." How dare he? Sesshoumaru could feel his fangs sharpening against his jaw, threatening to pry his mouth open as he heard the fool speak and turned away from him, walking back the way he'd come. He would rejoin his army and continue his journey, this was nothing more than a delay.

"Wait!" No. "I know where she is!" So did he. "In the palace, I know exactly where they're keeping her. I've been through their halls enough times to-"

Sesshoumaru stopped, he turned, and lunged on the unsuspecting man before Eurus even understood what had happened. His claws threatened the tender flesh on either side of the wind-maker's throat while his arm propelled Eurus up so his feet were dangling in the air, all weight resting on his chin over Sesshoumaru's wrist. The demon was growling, his sharp teeth clenched behind his lips, but his amber eyes stared up straight at the stunned being in his grasp.

Rather than kick and fight against him, Eurus all but went limp, hanging there with only just enough tension in his spine to show how much pain he was in.

"I ruined you." The Demon Lord stated, the words tumbling around in his chest like stones in a barrel, "You were the patron of fire and wind, you were an immortal who sought to prolong his own life." And now here Sesshoumaru was years later, fighting off a flock of _immortal fire birds._

"_He wants my title-!_" And what would that be? Vanquished weakling? "_God! He wants to become a God!"_

"You lost your divinity years ago." Was this all a ploy for Eurus to gain it back? Raising an army of fire-birds to fight him and prove himself to Fujin? The Demon Lord didn't bother himself trying to figure out how such a thing would even be possible for the Greek who was slowly beginning to struggle in his grasp. "You have no claim to that title anymore."

"_I will if you let me fight!"_ Hmph.

He tossed Eurus to the ground, letting the man fly through the air before he landed in a heap under the tall grass. He turned away and began to walk before the false god had picked himself up, but the wind picked up and Sesshoumaru stopped, contempt welling up as he found the pathetic creature standing in front of him once again.

"Your troops are at a disadvantage." He was treading heavily over Sesshoumaru's very few patience. "Dogs and birds aren't natural enemies but you already _know_ how the birds fight: _you_ can fly, but the foxes, the wolves, the wild dogs, they'll be picked off by diving flocks." Sesshoumaru beat down the urge to bare his fangs and snarl at Eurus, the god's face had aged in the years since they'd first met, the toll of mortality weighing heavily on the man's body as his youth had begun to fade away. He wasn't ageing quite like a human, but he was far from immortal. His blue eyes burned with an intensity that made the Demon Lord just want to scratch them out. Ryokijin had blue eyes.

"Let the wind fight alongside you."

"I do not need the wind."

"If they can't fly then they can't escape you! Don't you get it? I come with Fujin's blessing- the _same_ blessing that let your sword kill so many Phoenixes!" Insolent fool, but Sesshoumaru's claws were stayed, tense as they were at his sides. It was insulting to him that such a weak, semi-divine creature should know the origins of Tenseiga's power. He would not acknowledge Fujin's favour, but that didn't give him the power to deny it either.

"You are nothing but a coward."

"No, I _was_ a coward!" How dare he point a finger at him as if to give a lecture? The General's patience were wearing thin and he would not listen to much more of this. Eurus raised his voice and stared at him with wide blue eyes, a mixture of fear and indignation giving the weakling the breath to speak so directly. "I was never a fighter, and I'm still not a warrior, but I know this! And I know you can't win your battle tomorrow without the wind! Mine, your wife's, Fujin's- it doesn't matter! But you need us! Fujin won't undermine you because of the history you have together, and that's why I'm here, and I've _been_ here from the start." The wind that flew ahead of Ryokijin's attack, but maybe that wasn't what Eurus meant. He equated Kagura's winds with those of gods...

Fighting past his own anger, Sesshoumaru growled his next words slowly.

"The spring." Where he'd died, where she'd brought him back to life. There had been a wind there, a persistent breeze that Kagura had dismissed as if it had a conscious mind of its own. The deity curled his tongue behind his teeth, surprised, like a child who had been caught stealing. Where else? "The storm." When Sesshoumaru had attacked her. He had seen Fujin high above the clouds, perhaps this was the one who had brought the god's attention around? "The beach." Where he had marked her.

"You make it sound so sinister..." Sesshoumaru flexed his fingers openly, lifting his right hand so the moonlight could shine off his claws. He would show him _sinister._.. But to the false god's credit, Eurus didn't suddenly back down and reduce himself to sobs.

"I'm not alone, it's not just me." What was he babbling about now? "After the Maelstrom I... well, I made a lot of enemies but learned a lot too. I haven't just spent the last fifteen years moaning on my island and following you around." Sesshoumaru was not convinced. "I don't have all the spirits I gathered for Boreas, but I have enough to make a difference."

"And if I still refuse you?"

"At this point you can't stop them." Eurus took a half-step back, as if fearing his words would be enough to finally bring Sesshoumaru's claws through his chest. He was almost right. "The dogs run with you because they believe in authority and territory, and they'll keep running until the last one's crippled in the mouth of that volcano." So he truly expected Sesshoumaru to lose? Miserable creature he would regret those- "Even if you kill me right here the wind has already turned against Ryokijin!"

"...Why?" Eurus had just enough to say to keep Sesshoumaru from killing him or taking off into the wind. "The Phoenix Lord is already twice the god you ever were." Not that that would keep Sesshoumaru from slaughtering the overstuffed pheasant. The foreigner pursed his lips and found the gall to glare back at him, pretending he had enough character for the Dog General to insult.

"Fujin does what Boreas never could:" That name, it was an effort on Sesshoumaru's part not to growl at the sound of it. "He inspires love and loyalty down the ranks of his creations, it's where his strength comes from. Ryokijin upsets that balance." At some point, years ago, Sesshoumaru could remember being told something along these lines. It had been this wretch speaking then too. "Do you really think you're the first demon the gods have ever favoured? Who do you think taught the Phoenix how to rise from the ashes?" That was _Fujin?_ "It was eons ago, Demon Lord, long before your islands were even drawn up out of the ocean. Now Ryokijin thinks he can take that original gift and use it to usurp the heavens. You're just a stepping stone to him: he took your wife because she belongs to Fujin, he killed your child as an affront to the gods, everything he does-" Not listening.

Sesshoumaru stopped listening. Stopped breathing. Stopped understanding. Eurus' mouth kept moving and the spirit's voice kept babbling but Sesshoumaru heard none of it. His eyes found the vanishing horizon over the Greek's shoulder and just stared without intent. He didn't see the grasses or the moon or the stars, the sky was invisible to him, the darkness didn't exist. He couldn't smell the hot clay that followed Eurus or the sweet clover he'd trod over to get here. Bakusaiga was as silent as its master.

"...Child." His lips and teeth had come away, his jaw hanging just so and beyond his notice until he spoke. The word rolled down off his tongue like a bead of water skipping across hot metal, sizzling as it went. The sound of it hurt almost as the image and that was what surprised him more than anything. It wasn't learning Kagura was pregnant, it wasn't learning that that pregnancy was now over, it was how much that knowledge _hurt_.

How could it hurt this much?

He moved his hand without meaning to, his right palm settling against his armored side and pressing against the iron clasped over his wounded gut. It was the most he'd let himself show for days, and Sesshoumaru couldn't find the presence of mind to stop his shoulders from falling. His ears registered the sound of Eurus sucking in a sharp, shocked breath, and then the Demon Lord turned away again, keeping his hand where it was and making himself breathe through his tight, constricted throat.

Why did it hurt this much?

"You didn't know..." He would not fall, he would not grieve, now was not the time for weakness and emotion. There was rage in him, he could feel it, indignation and anger and frustration all waiting to bubble up and consume him. But it wasn't rising up, it was stuck, buried under something else that had previously been on the bottom: now everything else was floating to the top and burying his rage underneath it all. "Wait- you didn't know at _all?_"

"We arrive at dawn."

"_Wait!_" No.

Sesshoumaru threw himself up as if he could escape the pain that way. His heart was thundering before he even left the meadow behind, sweat chilling his throat and itching down his back. He flew and rose up high in the air, higher than he'd been staying throughout the journey thus far: he didn't want the scent to travel, he couldn't afford to let the stink of his distress spread to idle noses.

His mother and half-brother were here, so be it.

The wind was set to fight on his side, very well.

Why was he so upset?

Nothing had changed, nothing was different now that he knew versus when he had not. Kagura was still in danger, and Kagura was the only one he had been focused on rescuing from the start. Sesshoumaru had no tenderness for Totosai, it would not matter to the Demon Lord which way things turned out for the old sage. His wife was the only one that mattered.

She had not told him of the child and he had not asked, he'd never suspected even when she became restless and disturbed in his presence that the problem could have been internal. Sesshoumaru had simply not considered it a possibility, not yet. He had been away from Kagura for so long and with her again for such a short time before all of this that he simply had not had time to_ notice_ any changes.

If he had known, would it have changed anything? The wind buffeted against him as Sesshoumaru continued to climb, his eyes open in the cold night before he squeezed them shut against the moonlight. The question persisted: would he have tried _harder_ to protect her if he had known? Would he have refrained from searching out the Pheonix Lord in order to protect his mate instead? Would he have noticed the danger before she was struck down, not waited until it was too late and her defeated form already being carried up into the sky? Why had she even _allowed_ herself to fight in her condition? No, he had not known, but hadn't _she?_

He was not going to fall out of the air, he was not going to give in so far to his emotions. The Demon Lord forced his eyes open again against the wind and quickly pulled up short- something had crossed his path: something diving down through the air in the moonlight. His senses focused and Sesshoumaru saw the air moving- no. He felt it move, he sensed its motions, but he could not see it.

What he saw was shadows and paper, and small beads of light hanging in the turbulent air. He heard whispering voices that weren't speaking _to _him but which spoke regardless, passing secrets to one another as a gull's feather drifted past him before swirling up and around as if it had a mind of its own.

The paper rearranged itself on the eddies and formed the diamond-shaped body of a fighter kite, two black eyes painted on the pale body, streaks of indigo running down the frame as it swooped and darted just out of reach. What looked like the kite's tail distinguished itself as a cloth-like shadow. The darker being detached itself and spread its thin, translucent body wide like a sheet. A wolf's cry, one warbling and distorted by the wind, echoed through the air before a flash of white dove down towards the still-moving army and mingled with their numbers.

The pain would not go away, but it could be buried. A shadow he had freed from ice and a kite he had used to navigate a storm: two memories he barely recalled expressing loyalty he did not expect. The shadow dove down after the wolf and was followed the gaping mouths of flying fish, the clustered leaves of autumn air, wooden toys and paper vessels. The kite remained where it was, swooping back and forth on the calm air as it chirped and crooned without eloquence.

Eurus had not been able to gather all the victims of the Kamikaze, but he had brought enough.

Enough to kill Ryokijin.

* * *

><p><strong>Don't know how I feel about that ending part since I was stumped by this chapter for a while, but at least it's done. I really, <em>really<em> wanted to work in some things from RtW so if you're wondering where these guys are from then check out_ Restoring the Wind _Chapter 7: "Maelstrom". Obviously the other spirits didn't do an aweful lot, but they WERE there!**

**Still working on the war chapters so, again, you'll just have to wait and see when I can get them done. Like with 27 I'll post it as soon as I finish, kk? Special thanks to Killersupergirl for giving some feedback on the direction of the story.**

**Read and review guys!**


End file.
